Troubled
by OML.Layla
Summary: What happens when Elena Gilbert isn't Stefan and Damon Salvatore's main priority? What happens if it is now a girl that nobody really noticed before? Will this girl be further involved in the supernatural world than anyone thought her to be? This one person will change the future of everyone in Mystic Falls.
1. Chapter 1-Pilot Part A

**A/N: DISCLAIMER- I do not own any of the Vampire Diaries characters or plots. I only own the characters I added.**

* * *

 _Chapter 1:_

"I found your report card in the piles of mail that was in your father's study room." Mrs. Clairwell handed her daughter an envelope. Madeline carelessly took the envelope and slid it in her back pocket. The coffee maker stopped making sounds; indicating that it was done, so Madeline took the coffee pot and poured the caffeine into her everyday coffee cup.

"Are you really going to go wear that for your first day of school?" Her mother questioned with distaste in her eyes. Madeline looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a red plaid flannel, blue skinny jeans, and white converse. It was something she would wear every other day.

"What's wrong with it?" She asked.

"Nothing honey. It's just, maybe you should put a little more effort into the way you look." She lightly touched her daughter's hair, which was in a side braid. "And you have such nice hair. If you actually do it, it would look..presentable. And those glasses. Didn't I get you contacts?"

Madeline fixed her glasses that framed her deep blue eyes. "I don't really like the idea of touching my own eyeball. It freaks me out."

This was a usual thing that goes on in the Clairwell household. Her mom always criticizing the way she dresses herself. Her father barely seen by his family. But Madeline soon got use to it one she started high school. Madeline was never the type of girl with a lot of friends, she was more anti-social. So she stuck to herself all of the time. Even the kids who have been in the same class with her since grade school, didn't know her name. It was like she was invisible to everyone, well except for one person; Caroline. But still even then, Caroline would hang out with Elena and Bonnie during school. Madeline and Caroline started being best friends in the 5th grade. They were unbelievably close, but once they got into high school Caroline started caring a lot more about what people think about her. So she started joining clubs and becoming friends with everyone. Madeline on the other hand didn't change. She didn't like the idea of wanting other people's approval. Therefore, they grew apart a little. They still talked and hung out, but they weren't that social in school.

Mrs. Clairwell was still giving Madeline a look that told her she still disapproved of her outfit, and yet Madeline couldn't find it in her to care. With her coffee cup in her hand she grabbed her car keys and walked out the front door.

_0_

Madeline was walking through the school hallways looking for her locker, since it was different from last year. She saw everyone hugging their friends and catching up and she couldn't help but think about Caroline. They didn't hang out a lot during the summer so she was looking forward to seeing her. And just like on time there she was. Caroline was walking towards Madeline with a huge smile plastered on her face. Once she was in front of Madeline she pulled her into a tight hug.

"Hey Caroline." Madeline said when Caroline finally let go. "Hey. It feels like I haven't seen you since last year." Caroline said. "Yeah I know…" Before she could finish her sentence Caroline said, "Oh did you hear about Elena's parents. It was so bad. Oh wait I think I see her over there with Bonnie. I'll catch you later." Caroline walked off and Madeline was left there standing by herself in the middle of the hall.

She let out a big sigh and went back to looking for her locker.

It took a while, but she she finally found it. Once she put the combination in she noticed a guy standing next to her putting in his combination. She didn't recognize him, so she guessed he was new. He was pretty cute too.

She looked away from the boy and opened her locker. She went into her black bag and pulled out some of her favorite books. During lunch she always went outside and sat by a tree to eat an apple and read a book.

However, while see was pulling them out from her bag they slipped from her fingers and scattered onto the floor. She silently cursed herself and squatted down to pick up the books. It took her a second to realize that the cute guy next to her bent down and helped her pick them up. She stood up with two of her book in her hands and the mysterious guy got off the ground and handed her a book.

"Thanks." Madeline said taking the book from his hand and stuffing it in her locker with the rest them. "No problem." The guy said as Madeline closed her locker and walked away without another word.

Madeline was surprised when that guy helped her with her books, but she knew that he probably would remember her after 5 minutes. So she walked to her first period class which looks like...chemistry.

_0_

Lunch came around pretty quickly and Madeline found herself sitting against a tree with an apple and reading Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

As Madeline was caught up in her book the new student, Stefan Salvatore, walked by and stopped when he noticed her. He saw everyone with their friends smiling and laughing then he saw this girl by herself reading against a tree. So he walked over and sat down.

Madeline took notice in the presence of the new guy, but she didn't know what to think of it. So she didn't say anything.

"Did you know the sources of that play trace back as far as pre-13th century Icelandic tales. The generic "hero-as-fool" story is so old and is expressed in the literature of so many cultures that scholars believe it may be Indo-European in origin." Stefan said once he saw the book Madeline was reading.

"You've read Hamlet. Let me guess it was for a book report?" Madeline said finally making it aware that she knows he is there.

"Actually I read it a couple summers of go for fun. It is one of my favorite books by him."

"Wow someone who actually knows who William Shakespeare is. Most people in high school find it boring." Madeline said.

"Well it far from it. I'm Stefan." He said holding out his hand. Madeline thought for a second then said, "I'm Madeline."

"Nice to meet you Madeline." Stefan said with a smile.

"Likewise. Are you new here?"

"Yeah. I live with my uncle at the Salvatore Boarding house." Stefan said friendly.

"The Salvatore Boarding house? I have always wanted to go inside there. It looks so big." Madeline said with curiosity in her voice.

"It is big. But half of it has been untouched. I like the space though." Stefan informed her.

"It must be nice. So, what are doing sitting here with me." Madeline asked what had been lingering in her mind since he sat down.

"Well I am new so I don't exactly have any friends and everyone wants to know everything about me and I kind of take pride in not being an open book. And when I helped pick up your books you didn't even spare me a second look. It was like you saw me like you saw every other person." Stefan explained.

"Not exactly true, I think your pretty cool." Then the bell rang and Madeline closed her book and got off the ground.

"What do you have next?" Stefan asked.

"English." Madeleine answered.

"With Mrs. Peterson?"

"Yeah."

"I have her too."

"Let's go then." Madeline said walking back into the building with Stefan by her side.

_0_

Madeline and Stefan sat next to each other in the second to last row, while Mrs. Peterson stood in front of the class.

"Okay class, I am not going to waste my time telling you the rules and guidelines. You have been in high school for 2 years, figure it out. Now here is the assignment; You will read excerpts from the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, and then you will analyze and interpret aesthetic beauty. You will apply your knowledge by identifying, analyzing and interpreting beauty in excerpts from Beethoven's Fifth symphony. You will also work with one other person in this class. This assignment is due in two days." The students' started to whisper to each other and pairing up. Then Stefan tapped on Madeline's shoulder.

"Do you want to be my partner?" Ultimately Madeline was planning on talking to the teacher to see if she could do it by herself (which probably wouldn't have gone well) but if Stefan was going to offer a way to avoid that confrontation she wasn't going to decline.

"Why not?" Madeline shrugged.

"When do you want to start?" Stefan asked turning his body towards her.

"Sometime after school today. Your place." Madeline told him. She didn't want to bring him over her house because her parents don't want her dating AT ALL. And they wouldn't believe that he was just some guy I'm doing a project with. So it was better to just not bring him.

"Umm...are you sure we can't do it at your house." Stefan asked suddenly getting nervous.

"I'm sure."

_0_

The school day went by fairly quickly and before she knew it Madeline was laying on her bed with her headphones on, playing music that was turned all the way up. Today wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She kind of made a new friend; which was good. Although, she didn't really talk to Caroline much. I bet she already has all the information on Stefan. No doubt she has a plan to hook up with him. I am pretty sure the whole school has a plan to pursue him. When they were walking to class together it was hard not to notice all the eyes on us. More like him though.

All of a sudden her headphones were pulled off her head. She sat up and was presented with an angry mother.

"I've been calling you for 5 minutes." Mrs. Clairwell scolded.

"Sorry I had my volume all the way up." Madeline apologized.

"Your father has some important people from work coming over and he wants me to inform you that he wants you to be out of the house before they arrive." She told her daughter. Madeline never knew what her father did for a living. She didn't want to ask though because her father always thought that she was the child and he was the adult and he doesn't need to explain himself to her. So she didn't ask.

"Yeah, okay. I'll go to the grill and have something to eat." Madeline told her mom whilst getting off her bed.

"Here," her mom pulled a 10 dollar bill out of her pocket and handed it to Madeline, "I'll text you when you can come back."

Madeline took the money and walked downstairs.

_0_

"Hey can I get a burger and a Dr. Pepper?" Madeline said sitting at the bar.

"Yeah that'll be 5.67." The guy at the bar said. She slid him the 10 dollars and he gave her the change before disappearing to make her burger. Madeline was just sitting there, silently waiting for her her food to be done, when the door opened. Elena and Stefan walked in together and she was the first to see them. Stefan was looking around like a lost puppy until his eyes landed on Madeline's. _**Of course he would be with Elena**_ , Madeline thought. He was about to walk over to her, but then Matt was appeared in front of him. So Madeline just turned around in her seat and the waiter set her food in front of her.

After an awkward exchange with Matt, Stefan said, " Hey Elena, I'll be right back."

Elena noticed him staring at a girl at the bar, however, she couldn't tell who it was. "Okay, I'll be sitting over there. Come over when your ready." Elena said before walking off to her friends.

Stefan walked over and tapped on Madeline's back. "Hey I didn't know you were going to be here," He said.

"Neither did I. I see you've made some new friends."Madeline pointed out looking over at Elena sitting at a table with Bonnie and Caroline.

"Yeah. Are you friends with Elena?"

"Kind of a mutual friend I guess. But not really."

"Oh well if you want you can come sit with us." Stefan offered.

"I think I'm good here with my burger." Madeline said.

"Come on. I would feel a lot better if my new friend was sitting with me." Stefan begged. And it worked because before she knew it Madeline was walking with Stefan to go sit with these girls.

"Is it okay if Madeline sits with us?" Stefan asked.

"Oh my god Madeline. I didn't even see you when you got here." Caroline said in a surprised tone.

"Yeah you can sit here." Bonnie said. Madeline has never spoken a word to either Bonnie nor Elena so it was really weird to be sitting at a table with them.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline asked Stefan.

"Mm-Hmm. And moved when I was still young."

"Parents?" Bonnie asked.

"My parents passed away." Madeline immediately felt bad but Elena beat her to saying what she was thinking.

"I'm sorry. Any siblings?"

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle."

"So, Stefan, if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow." Caroline said trying to gain Stefan's attention.

"It's a back to school thing at the falls." Bonnie explained further. Than Stefan turned to Madeline who was sipping on her soda.

"Are planning on going?" He asked.

"Not really my thing." She told him.

"Come on Madeline, it's going to be fun. She's going." Caroline made up her mind for Madeline. Stefan smiled at her than turned to Elena.

"How about you? Are you going?"

"Of course she is." Bonnie answered for her.

They all sort of made conversation about random things until Stefan said he was going to get going. He got out of his chair than looked at Madeline.

"Do you want to just work on our project tonight?" Stefan asked. Madeline looked at her phone to see if her mother has texted her yet to let her know she can go back home. Unfortunately, she didn't so Madeline said yes.


	2. Chapter 2-Pilot Part B

_Chapter 2:_

Madeline was sitting on the couch with a book about the assignment in her lap whilst Stefan was sitting across from her in a chair also with a book on his lap. He was occasionally sneaking quick glances at Madeline between the chapters.

"I can't believe how many books you have." Madeline said mindlessly.

"They were passed down through generations of my ancestors." Stefan told her.

"What is beauty according to Plato?" Madeline said closing her book.

"Beauty is the result of a unity of opposites in a proportionate and harmonious way. Symmetry is the result of the ratio 1:1, and is the most popular ratio used in the arts although not the only one. The aesthetic interpretation of beauty in musical works requires the identification of musical opposites." Stefan explained. Madeline was surprised that Stefan memorized that whole answer.

"What is the relationship between beauty and love?" Stefan asked this time.

"Ok um... I don't remember exactly what it said, but I think it was something along the lines of; love is the force that brings the opposites together in order to create beauty. Uhh, the study of beauty consists of studying love as beauty and love are counterparts. And," Madeline thought for a second trying to remember what it said in the book, " Oh yeah, love consists of beauty and goodness, and is the cause of beauty and goodness in others."

"Not bad." Stefan smiled. "Okay how about this-What effect does beauty have?" Stefan asked another question.

"I know this one! Beauty influences character by making individuals good and friendly while imparting grace, refining taste, and facilitating clear thinking. This influence occurs subconsciously over time." Madeline said with pride in her voice.

"That was good. So are you really going to that Bonfire thing?" Stefan changed the subject.

"Definitely not. I just didn't want to argue with Caroline."

"Why not? It could be fun." Stefan suggested.

"I'll probably just end up standing there by myself. I don't know if you've noticed but I don't have many friends." Madeline told him like it was obvious why she didn't want to go.

"I'm your friend and isn't Caroline too?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah she is, but she tends to hang out with everyone else but me. And you'll probably end up talking to Elena the whole night. You know she likes you, right?" Madeline tried to be subtle about changing the subject, but Stefan caught it.

"No, no, no. Don't change the subject. Okay if you go than... I will let you take 5 books from my library." Stefan negotiated.

Stefan liked Madeline a lot and he could see her and him becoming really close. But he also wanted to get her out of her little shell that she refuses to get out of. He also knew that if he came to the event tomorrow with Madeline, Elena would get jealous. But he wasn't going to let her go by herself and end up being by herself the whole time. In that moment he realized that he unconsciously chose Madeline over Elena.

"Fine! But only because you have really good books. And just because I'm going doesn't mean I will have a good time." Madeline pouted. Stefan laughed at her answer. But then someone walked in.

"You promised." A man known as, Zach, said and threw a newspaper at Stefan.

"Now isn't the time Zach." Stefan said getting up and looking at Madeline. It wasn't until then that Zach realized another presence in the room. He looked at her and said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Madeline. I came here to work on a school assignment with Stefan. But I can go…" Madeline said getting her stuff together.

"I think that would be best." Zach said before Stefan interfered.

"No, you don't have to go." Zach shot him a warning look, but he ignored him. "If you go upstairs and go down the hall to your left, my room is at the second door. Can you wait there for me?" Stefan asked. Madeline took a moment to look at this guy who she thought to be Stefan's uncle. He did not look happy.

"Uh-are you sure it's okay." She asked Stefan then looked at Zach.

"Yeah, I won't be long." Stefan assured. Madeline stood still for a moment then she nodded and went up the stairs leaving Stefan and his uncle alone.

"Who is she?" Zach asked when Madeline was out of sight.

"A friend from school." Stefan looked at the newspaper and said, "This was an animal attack."

"Don't give me that. I know the game. You tear them up enough, they always suspect an animal attack. You said you had it under control." Zach accused.

"And I do."

"Please, Uncle Stefan. Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet for years, but there are people who still remember. And you being here, it's just going to stir things up." Zach said.

"It's not my intention."

"Then what is? Why did you come back? After all this time, why now?"

"I don't have to explain myself." Stefan said in a stronger voice.

"I know that you can't change what you are. But you don't belong here anymore."

"Then where do I belong?" Stefan asked.

"I can't tell you what to do. But coming back here was a mistake." Zach then left and went up to his own room. Stefan was now by himself with his wandering thoughts. Maybe this was a mistake coming back. But he have to know her. How could he not after everything that has happened? And then there was Madeline. He didn't ultimately plan on meeting her, she was just there and he felt a pull towards her. He won't put Madeline in danger and let her find out his secret and same goes with Elena.

Stefan finally left the living room and went up to his room. The door was open so he stood in the doorway and watched Madeline on his bed reading a book that was on his dresser.

"How To Kill A Mockingbird. It's a good book." Stefan said making himself known.

"Yeah. Um...was that your uncle?" Madeline closed the book.

"Yeah his name is Zach." Stefan said moving to stand in front of her.

"Are you guys okay? He seemed really mad."

"Yeah he just got upset because I forgot to check the mail and he was expecting something important." Stefan quickly came up with a lie and prayed she would believe it. Luckily, his prayers were answered.

"Oh. Uh I think we have most of this assignment done so I can leave. And I think Zach would be a lot happier if I did. " Madeline said checking her phone to see if her mom had texted. But there was still nothing.

"Before you leave do you want to pick out your 5 books?" Stefan asked trying to have her stay for as long as possible.

"Yeah sure. Is it okay if I take this book?" Madeline said pointing towards the book in her hands.

"Of course." Stefan said.

Madeline had her bag with all of her school work in her hands as Stefan took her down to his library. Once they got there Madeline started to explore the books. The first one she picked was The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Stefan was watching her closely as she made her book choices. The second book she picked was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. The third book was MacBeth by William Shakespeare. As Madeline was picking her last book she traced her fingers along the other books until she stopped on a particular book. She pulled out Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

"Gone With The Wind. Good choice." Stefan commented.

"I've been meaning to read this forever, but I never had the time to go buy it." Madeline said putting the book in her bag with the others. Stefan walked her to the front door and before she left she said, "I'll see you at school."

"Goodnight Madeline." Stefan said.

"Goodnight."

Madeline got into her car and started the engine. She took out her phone once again, and still nothing. After putting her seat belt on she drove out of the driveway onto the street.

This was something Madeline was use to with her parents as it has happened more than once. So she was just going to do what she always did; she stopped about 2 miles away from her house and parked her car somewhere on the curb and she slept there.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed to the back seat. She always had a small blanket hidden there for when this happened so she took it out and curled up in it as she laid down and fell into a deep, uncomfortable, sleep.

* * *

Nothing eventful happened at school the next day for Madeline. However, Stefan didn't speak a word to her the whole day, but she did see him in the hallways with Elena. Somehow she knew something like that would have happened. So she just went on with the rest of her day.

Little did Madeline know, Stefan sort of had a reason not to talk to her. In the morning when he was coming out of the woods from hunting he saw Madeline's car parked by the curb. There weren't any houses around there so Stefan walked up to the car and he saw Madeline sleeping in the backseat. Then she started to stir around so he left before she woke up. After seeing Madeline sleeping in her car he went home and did a little research. He found out that she does in fact have a house with her two parents. So why was she sleeping in her car? He didn't really know what to think or what to say to her so when school ended he decided to go to her house and they could go to the Bonfire together. He would mention the whole sleeping in the car thing.

* * *

Madeline was in her kitchen drinking hot chocolate enjoying having the house to herself when the doorbell rang. She put the mug down and went to the door. As soon as she opened it she was presented with a smiling Stefan.

"What are you doing here?" Madeline asked in confusion.

"Don't tell me you forgot about the Bonfire tonight." Stefan said.

"Oh yeah. I have to get dressed." Madeline said realizing she already changed into her comfortable clothes. "Umm...you can come in." Madeline moved out of the way so Stefan could walk inside."

"Thanks." He said as he looked around the house. "You have a nice house." Stefan commented.

"Yeah. Thank you. So I'll be right back in a couple minutes. Make yourself at home." Those were Madeline's last words before going upstairs to her room. She went straight into her closet and rummaged through my clothes. She ultimately decided on a pair of dark blue overalls and a white longs-sleeved shirt that stopped just below her bellybutton. She paired that with her white converse. She looked in the mirror and she decided to just keep her wavy hair down. Her hair was probably the longest anyone has seen before as it falls a little below her butt. That is why she usually liked it up and tied back, but she was just too lazy to go through the struggle of taming it. After she was satisfied with her look she went back downstairs and found Stefan looking at a picture of her and her family when she was 15 years old. Surprisingly or not so surprisingly that was the most recent picture of the family together.

"I'm ready." Madeline announced. Stefan quickly turned around and met eyes with Madeline. "Alright. Let's get going." Stefan suggested. She nodded and the walked out the door before Stefan, so he closed the door behind him.

"Nice car." Madeline complimented as she walked towards it. Stefan was walking to the front seat, but still had his eyes on Madeline. He watched as she had a smile on her face and compared it to how she was smiling in the picture. It didn't take a scientist to see how she was so much happier in that picture.

"Thanks it was passed down to me." Stefan said before climbing into his seat as Madeline did the same. 2 minutes into the ride Madeline decided to break the silence that was tearing at her.

"I think Gone With The Wind is my new favorite book."

"Did you already finish the whole book?" Stefan asked in surprise.

"I'm a quick reader and I was already ahead in all of my class, so I just read it during classes."

"Wow. I don't even think I finish the book that quickly when I first read it. I don't think anyone has read it that fast."

"I guess that makes me unique."

"You were already unique before this." Stefan said turning to face her.

"How so?"

"You remind me a lot of myself sometimes and that isn't something I can say about a lot of people. And I've met a lot of people."

"Nice to know. And you're pretty unique yourself too you know." Madeline said.

"Oh really."

"Yeah. First of all you're first choice as a friend was me and I also can say that about a lot of people. And I have never had the same kind of book interest with anybody else. And somehow you're really easy to talk too." Madeline finished.

Stefan turned his head to smile at her. Since the Bonfire wasn't that far away from the Salvatore Boarding house they arrived fairly quickly. Stefan was the first to get out of the car and a second or two later Madeline followed.

"Is it totally lame that this is my first school related party?" Madeline asked as she stood next to Stefan.

"Absolutely not." Stefan said as he scanned through everyone there. Then Caroline came.

"Hey Madeline...and Stefan." Caroline said as she noticed his presence.

"Did you guys come together?"

"Yeah." Madeline said nervously. _**Was Caroline into him?**_ Madeline thought.

"Well I'm glad you guys could make it." Caroline said looking directly at Stefan as she pushed down the jealousy.

"Me too." Stefan said looking back at Madeline.

"Well let's get you a drink." Caroline flirted with Stefan.

"Well I'm-" Caroline started to pull him away ignoring his protest and said, "Come on."

Stefan sent Madeline a sorry look before Caroline completely pulled him away. So Madeline was left by herself which was exactly what she didn't want. So she went over to a crowd of people and grabbed a beer. If she was going to be here she was going to get drunk.

She was sitting down somewhere on a log and sipping on her beer when Matt Donavan came up to Madeline for the first time ever.

"Hey, aren't you Stefan's friend?" He ask moving himself in front her.

"Uh-Yeah. But I like to be referred to as Madeline."

"Yeah, Sorry. I just realized that we have been in many of the same classes for the past 3 years and we never crossed paths." Matt pointed out trying to start a conversation, but Madeline wasn't that interested.

"Funny how life works." She said.

"Yeah. Um-so are you and Stefan…" Matt trying to be casual.

"Uh-No. We uh-I-I just met the guy yesterday." Madeline stuttered.

"You're right. Yeah sorry for asking." Matt secretly hoped that Stefan and Madeline had feelings for each other because that would mean Elena couldn't get with Stefan. Little did Matt know Stefan didn't feel even remotely that way towards Elena. She's a good person, but Stefan just realized that the reason he was interested in the first place was because of her resemblance to Katherine. And after talking to her at the Bonfire he realized that they are nothing alike. He also has to admit to himself that maybe he would still be interested in her if Madeline wasn't in the picture.

Stefan saw Matt talking to Madeline and he saw the uncomfortable expression on Madeline's face, so he took it upon himself to walk over and save her.

"Hey guys." Stefan said. Madeline immediately stood up.

"What's up." Matt said.

"Nothing. I think Elena might need help with her brother and since you've known her longer I think you should help." Stefan suggested.

"Yeah you're probably right. Nice talking to you Madeline." Matt said before walking away.

Stefan looked at Madeline and was about to say something, but Madeline interrupted him by slapping him in the chest.

"Ow. You've known me all of two days and you're already hitting me." Stefan commented jokingly.

"That was for leaving me alone. I had to sit here while Matt asked me if you and I were hooking up after I just met you yesterday." Madeline yelled.

"I'm sorry after Caroline let me go I wanted to say hi to Elena and I completely forgot." Stefan apologized.

"It's fine but…" Madeline stopped talking because she heard Elena and Jeremy yelling out for help while Jeremy was holding Vicky Donavan in his arms.

"Somebody call an ambulance!" Matt yelled as people started to crowd around them.

"Everybody back up, give her some space!" Tyler yelled.

"It's her neck. Something bit her. She's losing a lot of blood." Elena said with worry in her voice.

"Oh my god." Madeline said sounding a little sick at the sight of all the blood.

"I can't be here." Madeline said to Stefan who was watching the scene unfold with fear in his eyes.

"It's okay. I'll take you home." Stefan said leading her out of the crowd. They walked to Stefan's car and he opened the door for her and closed it behind her. Once he got into the car he started the engine and started driving.

"I feel so bad. I should have stayed and helped." Madeline automatically regretted leaving. Even though Madeline never spoke to Vicky she pretty much grew up with her.

"Don't be. There is nothing you could of done. They will call the ambulance and they will take care of her. You can ask if she is okay tomorrow." Stefan said glancing at Madeline from the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah. I just need to go home and sleep."

Nothing more was said between the two until they arrived at Madeline's house.

"Can I see your phone?" Stefan asked. Madeline pulled out her phone and handed to him. He took it and typed in a few things and handed it back.

"I put my number in there. Text me if anything. Okay?" Stefan said.

"Yeah. I'll see you later Stefan." Madeline said before getting out of the car.

* * *

Stefan went straight home after dropping off Madeline and when he was in his room he felt the presence of someone he hoped not to see again.

"Damon." Stefan turned around to see his brother standing on the balcony.

"Hello brother."

"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" Stefan said as Damon walked further into the room.

"Wait till you see what I can do with the fog." Damon said with a smirk

"When'd you get here?"

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school. Your hair's different. I like it."

" It's been 15 years, Damon."

"Thank God. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did not suit you. Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads."

"Why are you here?" Stefan asked trying to see why his brother showed up after 15 years.

"I miss my little brother."

" You hate small towns. It's boring. There's nothing for you to do."

" I've managed to keep myself busy."

"You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you."

"Ah. That can be a problem...for you." Damon said skeptically.

"Why are you here now?"

"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all into one little word...Elena. Or maybe Madeline. I'm not sure."

"She took my breath away. Elena. She's a dead ringer for Katherine. But Madeline...I think I might prefer her over Elena. I think you do too. Is it working, Stefan? Being around them, being in their world? Does it make you feel alive?" Damon pressed.

"Elena is not Katherine. And leave Madeline out of this."

"Well, you better keep your fingers crossed. We both know how this story is going to end. Tell me something, when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?"

"I know what you're doing, Damon. It's not gonna work."

"Yeah? Come on. Don't you crave a little?" Damon asked ask he pushed Stefan back.

"Stop it." Stefan warned.

"Let's do it. Together. I saw a couple girls out there. Or just, let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Madeline and Elena."

"Stop it!" Stefan raised his voice.

"Imagine what her blood tastes like!" Damon says loudly. Stefan's face starts to change and red veins appear under his now black eyes.

"I can." Damon says and it completely pushes Stefan over the edge.

"I said stop!" Stefan runs in Damon, throwing him out of the window. Once he hits the ground he doesn't see Damon.

"I was impressed. I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face...thing. It was good." Damon says sounding snarky,

"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go, people die." Stefan says as he picks himself up off the floor covered in glass.

"That's a given."

"Not here. I won't allow it."

"I take that as an invitation."

"Damon, please. After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?" Stefan pleads

"I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word."

"Just stay away from Madeline."

"You better watch yourself brother, you forgot to tell me to stay away from Elena. Where's your ring? Oh, yeah, sun's coming up in a couple of hours, and, poof, ashes to ashes. Relax. It's right here." Damon says holding out Stefan's ring in the palm of his hand. Stefan carefully took the ring and put it on his finger. In one swift movement Damon grabs Stefan by the throat and throws him against the garage.

"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again." One of the lights turn on inside the house and Damon says, "I think we woke Zach up. Sorry, Zach."

* * *

After everything with Damon, Stefan wanted to go check on Madeline and when he got to her house he saw her window open so he climbed into it. But once he got into the room he saw Madeline laying down in her bed sleeping peacefully. He smiled to himself and left the room.


	3. Chapter 3- Night of the Comet Part A

_Chapter 3:_

When Madeline woke up this morning she realized she was really late so she grabbed the closest things to her fingers and threw them on. In her case it happened to be a blue oversized hoodie and black leggings. She ran into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She was so thankful in that moment that she didn't wear makeup because it would of held her back even longer. After brushing her teeth she pulled her hair up in a high ponytail then grabbed her bag and left.

When she got down to the kitchen she found her father sitting at the small table in the corner.

"Aren't you supposed to be at school already?" Her father said as she ran towards the door.

"I just woke up and I'm leaving now." Madeline opening the door and the leaving as fast as she could. She honestly didn't want to hear her father yelling at her and saying it was 'unexceptable'.

Once Madeline got into her car her phone buzzed.

 **From Stefan:**

 **I didn't see you when I got to school. Are you okay?**

 **From Madeline:**

 **Yeah I'm fine I just woke up late. I'm on my way.**

 **From Stefan:**

 **Okay. I have to go do something so I'm leaving school for the rest of today, but if you want to hang out you can stop by my place after school.**

 **Madeline:**

 **Okay.**

Madeline smiled to herself before putting her phone down and speeding to school.

* * *

When Madeline got to school she saw Matt standing outside and she she walked up to him.

"Hey Matt." He turned his head to see who was speaking to him and once he saw it was just Madeline he relaxed a little bit.

"Hey. Um I was about to go find you, but since you are already here I wanted to apologize for yesterday when we were talking." Matt quickly apologized.

"It's fine. I actually came over here to ask if your sister was okay. I couldn't stay and wait for the ambulance to come because blood makes me nauseous." Madeline explained.

"Yeah I saw you leave with Stefan. And they're keeping her overnight to make sure there's no infection, but she should be able to come home tomorrow."

"That's good news. Is there like a family member who you got in touch about what happened?"

"Our mom is in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend, so...we'll see how long it takes her to come rushing home." Matt said as if is was a usual thing that happened.

"Well Vicki is lucky she is okay."

"I know, and now there's talk of some missing campers."

"Did she say what animal attacked her?"

"She said it was a vampire."

""She was probably just drunk." Madeline said.

"Yeah that's what I said. I'm gonna go to hospital so that I can be there when she wakes and maybe I could get the real story."

"Okay. I'll see you later than." Madeline said with a smile.

"Yeah." And then she walked away to her next class.

* * *

After school ended most people started to head to the Grill which was a pretty normal everyday thing, but Madeline decided that she wanted to head over to Stefan's.

Once she got there she went to knock on the door, but then it opened.

"Hello." Madeline said from the doorstep. "Stefan!" Madeline said louder. When she didn't get a response she started to turn around and walk away.

"Hello there." A voice said from behind Madeline. She quickly turned around clearly startled. She was absolutely not reading for what she turned around to. The guy in front of her was pretty hot. The first thing she noticed about him were his icy blue eyes; they were stunning. He had a really strong jaw structure and raven black hair. But there was also something mysterious about him, something that let Madeline know she couldn't trust him.

"Um is Stefan there?" Madeline choked out.

"He should be here any minute now. You're welcome to stay and wait." Madeline knew she probably shouldn't, but she figured nothing bad could happen while waiting for Stefan.

"Uh-Yeah. Sure." Madeline said nervously. A smirk crept onto the guys face as he moved out of the way so Madeline could walk in. Once she got into the living room she turned around to face the guy who let her in.

"Who are you anyways?" She said.

"I am Stefan's older brother; Damon. You must be Madeline." Damon said walking closer to Madeline.

"Stefan told you about me?" Madeline was surprised. Especially because Stefan said he wasn't close to his siblings.

"Absolutely. How else would I know?" Damon told her. But at that moment Elena's voice rang throughout the house.

"Stefan?" Elena called as she pushed the door further open. It would be an understatement to say she was confused when she saw Damon and Madeline standing in the middle of the room.

"Madeline?" Elena said after glancing at Damon.

"Oh...Hi Elena." Madeline said feeling uncomfortable.

"I'm looking for Stefan." Elena couldn't help but feel jealous that Madeline was in Stefan's house.

"He should be here any second." Damon stepped in. "I don't believe we've met. I am Damon; Stefan's brother."

"He didn't tell me he had a brother." Elena pointed out.

"He didn't tell me either." Madeline said trying to make Elena feel better, but Elena just sent a glare her way.

"Well, Stefan's not one to brag." Damon said taking the attention off of Madeline. He then walked away from the door so that Elena could enter. When she came in she looked at her surroundings and said, "Wow, this is your living room?"

"Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste. I see why my brother's so smitten. It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him." Madeline sent him a questioning look.

"Last one?" Elena asked.

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend? Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet." Damon said. But Madeline saw right through him.

"Well, she has only known him for what...two, three days? You can't expect him to tell you every little thing about himself in that timespan." Madeline said towards Damon.

"Oops. Well, I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end." This time Damon said said it towards Madeline.

"You say like every relationship is doomed to end." Elena said. Damon kept his eyes on Madeline for a moment longer before turning away and saying, "I'm a fatalist. Hello, Stefan." Both Madeline and Elena turned around and saw Stefan standing there completely stiff while glaring at Damon. When Stefan asked Madeline to come over he thought that he would get there first.

"Elena. I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan said still keeping his eyes on Damon.

"I know I should have called. I just…" Elena stuttered.

"Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome any time. Isn't she, Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies. But...I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker." Damon teased. Elena looked hopeful for a second, but then Stefan said, "Thank you for stopping by, Elena. Nice to see you." Elena automatically felt uncomfortable.

"Yeah I should probably go. It was nice meeting you Damon." Elena said awkwardly.

"Great meeting you too Elena." Damon picked up Elena's hand and left a soft kiss on it. When he let go of her hand she turned and walked towards Stefan who was blocking the exit.

"Stefan...Stefan?" Elena said, but Stefan's eyes were glued on to Damon's.

"Stefan." Madeline said. Stefan's eyes shot to Madeline. They lingered on her for a second before he moved out of the way. When the door closed and Elena was gone Stefan moved away from the exit.

"Okay, um. Stefan, we can hang out today, but I rather it not be in your house, no offense," Madeline looked at Damon, "So I'll wait in my car for you." Madeline said before leaving.

"Elena. Great gal. Whoo. She's got spunk. And Madeline. She's feisty. I like it. You, on the other hand, look pooped. Did you overexert yourself today? Let me guess...hospital." Damon said.

"Someone had to clean up your mess."

"Well, were you successful? Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right." Damon tried to get Stefan to doubt himself.

"How long were they here?" Stefan asked.

"Were you worried, Stefan? Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past? Isn't that why you play your little game, "I'm a high school human"?"

"I'm not playing any game."

"Of course you are. We both know the closest you'll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it."

"What kind of game are you playing, Damon?"

"I guess you'll have to wait and see. You better get going before Madeline leaves without you. Or I could go with her. I can see why you like her so much." Damon teased.

"Stay away from her, Damon."

* * *

Madeline was just about to leave and just go home when Stefan walked out the front door and towards her car. When he got in the car he turned to Madeline.

"I'm sorry about back there. My brother just…" Stefan was about to finish but Madeline interrupted.

"It's fine Stefan. You don't have to apologize. You have a complicated family. I understand how that is more than anybody." Madeline told him and Stefan couldn't help but smile.

"Alright, what do you want to do?" Stefan asked.

"I thought about it for a while and I've decided it's going to be a surprise." Madeline said sounding excited.

"Should I be nervous?" Stefan asked.

"Probably. For all you know I could planning to drive this car off a cliff. So if you want out, now is your chance." Madeline warned with a smile.

"I think I'll take my chances."

"Okay. But you can't say I didn't warn you." Madeline started the engine and started driving.

 **20 MINUTES LATER**

"What is your favorite color?" Madeline asked.

"Green. You?" Stefan asked. The whole ride Madeline and Stefan have been asked each other questions to get to know each other better. At the same time they were avoiding questions that were to personal.

"Blue." Madeline answered.

"So how much longer until we get there?" Stefan asked.

"What? You're not enjoying my company?" Madeline asked with fake hurt.

"You know that's not true. I'm just trying to ensure that you aren't really driving us off a cliff." Stefan said with a laugh.

"You're in luck because we are here." Madeline stopped the car.

"Where are we?" Stefan asked.

"Come on and stop asking so many questions." Madeline got out of the car and Stefan quickly followed.

"Follow me." Madeline then ran into a bunch of trees with Stefan right behind her. They kept on running until Madeline suddenly stopped.

"We're here." Madeline said. Stefan walked to stand next to her and he saw that he was standing on a clift and when he looked down he saw the deep blue ocean that reminded him of Madeline's eyes.

"What are we doing here?" Stefan asked. Madeline looked at him with a smirk and then she smiled.

"We're going to jump, aren't we?" Stefan realized.

"Unless you're too afraid…" Madeline teased.

"You've got to be kidding me." Stefan laughed. He pulled his shirt off over his head while Madeline pulled off her sweater which revealed a black spaghetti tank top. As Stefan pulled down his pants he was left in boxers and Madeline did the same with her leggings.

Stefan tried his best not to stare at Madeline whilst she was in just a tank top and underwear. Little did he know Madeline was having the same problem. So she just ignored the fact that Stefan was wearing close to nothing and said, "So who is gonna jump first?"

"We jump at the same time." Stefan said. Madeline nodded her head. They both took a few steps back and bolted forward until the hard cement was no longer under their feet. As they were in the air they took a deep breath before hitting the water.

After a few seconds they emerged from under water they quickly inhaled and then bursted into laughter.

"I can't believe we just did that." Stefan said facing Madeline.

"I thought you could use a little bit of excitement in your life." Madeline said trying to keep her head above water.

"Who's to say I don't already have enough excitement?" Stefan asked.

"Believe me you don't." Madeline said before splashing water at Stefan.

"Oh really." They both began to splash water at each other and laugh wildly.

* * *

After getting out of the water they both got their clothes back on. It was soon going to get dark soon and they were sitting on the edge of the cliff with their legs dangling off it.

"Why did you bring me here?" Stefan asked.

"I thought it would be fun." Madeline answered.

"Is there another reason?" Stefan tried to dig a little deeper. Madeline was silent for a couple seconds debating if she should open up to him.

"On my 10th birthday my parent were to wrapped up in there work to spend the day with me so my older sister took me out. We went for ice cream. Then she took me to the arcade. We spent most of the day their trying to get enough tickets to buy me the big panda and taking a bunch of pictures. After that she took me here. At the time I was absolutely afraid of heights, and I thought that if I jumped I would die. So she told me that if I died I get to have her room. Me being the gullible 10 year old I was; I jumped.I was so scared when I was in the air, but once I hit the water all I felt was happiness. When we got out of the water we sat right here and watched the sun go down. And she told me that whenever my parents' weren't there for me she always would. And I never forgot that. So this was always my happy place." Madeline explained.

"If you don't mind asking, what happened to your sister since I've never heard you speak of having one." Stefan asked.

"That same night we got home and I realized that I dropped one of the pictures we took. She went outside to look for them and as she was crossing the street a car came out of nowhere and it hit her. And she died." Madeline finished.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. It must have been terrible especially since it was on your birthday." Stefan said with sorrow in his voice.

"Well I've had 7 years to grieve. I still miss her, but it doesn't hurt anymore." Madeline told him.


	4. Chapter 4-Night of the Comet Part B

_Chapter 4:_

Madeline and Stefan just got to Towns Square and they were walking around looking for someone to light their candle. Elena finally arrived and Madeline turned to Stefan.

"You should go and talk to her. I think Damon got under her skin and I'm sure you want to make sure everything is alright between you guys." She was aware that Elena wasn't a big fan of her for reasons that involve Stefan, but she wasn't going to make sure that her and Stefan weren't friends. That's just not how she is. Stefan knew that Elena felt threatened by Madeline and he wasn't sure if he blamed her. Stefan trusted Madeline more than he had trusted anybody in a long time. But then there was Elena. It was clear how she felt about him and he thought he might feel the same way towards her once he gets to know her. Maybe Madeline will always just be that one person he trusted.

"You sure you want me to leave you alone?" Stefan asked knowing how much she hates being left by herself.

"I'll live. Now go." Madeline encouraged. Stefan listened and went to Elena. Madeline watched as Elena lit Stefan's candle. She stopped watching them and went to Caroline so she could light her candle.

"Hey Care, can you light my candle?" Madeline asked.

"Oh hey Madeline. Yeah sure." Caroline tipped her candle towards Madeline's.

"Did you come here with Stefan?" Caroline asked as she pulled her candle away.

"Uh-Yeah." Madeline told her.

"So are you guys together?" Caroline said bluntly.

"No we just met. I'm just getting to know him. Why?" Madeline was confused. _**Does everyone think we are together?**_ Madeline asked her self.

"Everytime I see you you are always with Stefan, so I just thought that something was going on between you guys. I guess that's good new for Elena. She really likes him and she isn't really use to not getting what she wants." Caroline explained.

"Oh. Well, I'm gonna go watch the comet. I'll see you later." Madeline said and walked away. She walked to a place quieter and just stood there looking at the sky.

* * *

"You know, that comet...it's been traveling across space for thousands of years. All alone." Stefan says to Elena as they look at the sky.

"Yeah, Bonnie says it's a harbinger of evil." Elena told him.

"I think it's just a ball of...snow and ice, trapped on a path that it can't escape. And once every 145 years, it gets to come home. I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't myself." Stefan apologized.

"You seem to spend a lot of time apologizing."

"Well, I have a lot to apologize for. Yesterday, that wasn't about you, ok?"

"You didn't tell me that you had a brother." Elena pointed out. Stefan didn't understand why it was a big deal that he didn't tell anyone he had a brother since he had only been in town for a short amount of time. But at the same time it was a small town and everyone wanted to know everything about everyone.

" We're not close. It's, uh...it's complicated." Stefan scratched the back of his head.

"Always. He told me about your ex. Katherine." Stefan was surprised by that. He didn't remember Madeline mentioning that Damon said anything about Katherine.

"What did he say?"

"That she broke your heart."

"That was a long time ago."

"When you lose someone, it stays with you, always reminding you of how easy it is to get hurt."

"Elena…"

"It's OK, Stefan. I get it. You have no idea how much I get it. Complicated brother? Check. Complicated ex? Check. Too complicated to even contemplate dating, double check. It's OK. We met, and we talked, and it was epic, but...then the sun came up and reality set in. So…" Elena finished saying what she wanted to say and then blew out her candle and walked away.

Stefan stood there wondering why Madeline didn't act like this about his brother. If anything he was closer to Madeline than Elena, but he still couldn't figure it out.

* * *

Just when Madeline thought she was by herself someone walked next to her. She turned to see who it was.

"What are you doing here, Damon?" She asked. She didn't like the feeling she got when he was around. It was like she should be afraid of him of something. There was nothing Madeline hated more than feeling afraid.

"I saw you standing here by yourself and I thought you needed company." Damon said with his famous smirk plastered on his face.

"Well I don't so you can leave." Madeline told him sternly.

"I get the feeling that you don't like me." Damon observed.

"Because I don't." Madeline said.

"You don't even know me." Damon said moving his eyebrows in a flirty way.

"And I don't intend to." Madeline turned around and walked backed to the crowd of people. Damon stood their for a second. Although Madeline was harsh to him, he thought it would be fun to try and pursue her. It would entertain him and it would make Stefan mad. It was perfect.

Madeline was walking until someone tapped her on the shoulder. She thought it was Damon again so she said, "Go away-" Madeline immediately stopped talking when she saw it was just Stefan standing their with a questioning look."Oh sorry Stefan. Thought you were someone else. So how did it go with Elena?" Madeline said hoping he wouldn't question who she thought he was. She didn't think he would appreciate the fact that his brother was here.

"It could have gone better." Stefan said with a stressed expression.

"Don't look so down. Look at the comet. So many people say that it is a harbinger of evil, but how can something evil look so amazing?" Madeline said face facing the sky.

"What do you think it is?" Stefan asked.

"I think it is a ball of ice traveling in the sky that got blamed for something terrible that happened when it came home." Madeline realized that she might have missed judged Damon and that she should at least give him a chance to mess up before hating his guts.

"I got to go." Madeline said blowing out her candle.

"Where are you going?" Stefan asked.

"To find someone."

* * *

Madeline walked around Towns Square looking for Damon. Then he showed up like he knew she was looking for him.

"Looking for me." Damon said from behind her. She jumped and swiftly turned around.

"Actually yes. I have decided not to hate." Madeline told him.

"What changed your mind?" Damon asked. He stood in a way that made him look mysterious and unpredictable.

"Let's just say I compared you to a rock in the sky." Madeline flatly said. He raised his eyebrow at that.

"Lucky you. Being me friend is not something anyone would want to miss out on." Damon said sexyly.

"I never said we were friends. I said I didn't hate you." Madeline pointed out quickly.

"It's a step closer to being friends. And I didn't even have to try." Damon got cocky.

"I wouldn't get use to it if I were you. For us to be friends I would have to trust you. And I don't trust a lot of people, therefore, I don't have a lot friends. So good luck." Madeline smiled before walking away.

* * *

As Madeline was walking in the street Matt came up to her.

"Madeline, have you seen Vicki?" He said in distress.

"No, why?"

"She's missing."

"I'm sorry. I'll keep an eye out for her." Madeline ensured.

"Thanks." Matt was about to walk away but then he remembered something.

"Did you know Stefan was at the hospital yesterday?" Matt asked. _**Why does everyone think I know everything about him?**_ Madeline asked herself.

"No I didn't. He was probably just visiting." Madeline suggested. Matt didn't look like he believed her, but he left it alone.

"Okay, well let me know if you see my sister." Madeline nodded and Matt walked away.

* * *

Madeline looked around for a while before heading back to Mystic Grill. She saw Matt sitting down with his sister. When he saw her he said something to Vicki and walked over to Madeline.

"You found her." Madeline said glancing at Vicki.

"Yeah, Stefan found her wandering around." Matt said.

"Really? Do you happen know where he is?" Madeline asked since they came together and she didn't know if he needed a ride.

"I think he left."

"Oh ok. Well I hope your sister is fine and that she doesn't go wandering off again. I'm gonna get going." Madeline told him.

"Alright. See you at school then." Matt said. He had a feeling that they would becoming friends very soon.

* * *

"Hi." Stefan said opening his door to Elena.

"Hey."

"Would you like to come in?" Stefan said out of politeness.

"The comet's actually this way." Elena said walked further outside with Stefan following.

"Sorry for barging in. Especially after earlier." Elena apologized.

"No, no. I'm glad you're here. The way we left things...I didn't like it."

"See, the thing is, I got home tonight planning on doing what I always do, write in my diary, like I have been since my mom gave me one when I was 10. It's where I get everything out, everything I'm feeling. It all goes in this little book that I hide on the second shelf behind this really hideous ceramic mermaid. But then I realized that I'd just be writing things that I should probably be telling you." Elena admitted.

"What would you write?" Stefan asked.

"I would write..."Dear diary, today I convinced myself it was ok to give up. Don't take risks. Stick with the status quo. No drama, now is just not the time. But my reasons aren't reasons, they're excuses. All I'm doing is hiding from the truth, and the truth is that... I'm scared, Stefan. I'm scared that if I let myself be happy for even one moment that...the world's just going to come crashing down, and I...don't know if I can survive that."

"Do you want to know what I would write? "I met a girl. We talked. It was epic. But then the sun came up and reality set in. Well, this is reality. Right here."

Stefan didn't know what he was doing, but it was too late to rethink because before he knew it his lips were connecting with Elena's.

* * *

Madeline went to the bathroom to brush her teeth after changing into a white tank top and plaid pajama pants. When she got back to her room she heard a knock on her window. She went over to her window and she saw Stefan sitting on her roof. She laughed before going and opening it.

"What are you doing here?" Madeline asked as Stefan climbed through the window.

"Something just happened and I wanted to tell someone so I came to you." Stefan told her. Madeline studied Stefan's face. She could tell that nothing bad happened, but something happened and he didn't know how he felt about it.

"What happened?" Madeline said sounding very interested.

"I kissed Elena." Stefan said. Madeline never thought anyone had the ability to completely change her mood with 3 words, but Stefan proved her wrong. She suddenly felt like she just fell into a 50 feet deep hole and she couldn't get out. Madeline knew that Elena liked Stefan, but she didn't know that Stefan felt the same way. She didn't know why she felt this way because she never thought she had feelings for Stefan but if she is feeling this way after hearing he kissed Elena what else would you call that?

"You okay there." Stefan asked because Madeline was just standing there with a blank face.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Madeline forced herself to smile. She didn't want to be one of those girls that get jealous over someone that isn't even theirs.

"So you guys are together now?" Madeline asked. _**Please say no. Please say no. Please.**_

"Yeah. I think so." Stefan said with an unreadable expression

"Well, I'm happy if you're happy." Madeline forced out.

"I think I want to try things out with her to see if things will work out." Stefan decided.

"You do you buddy. I'm going sleep so I'll see you tomorrow." Madeline said trying to keep the smile.

Stefan felt like something was wrong, but it was late and she wanted to sleep, so it would have to wait.

"Yeah. Okay. Goodnight." Stefan said. Madeline turned around and walked to light switch. She turned it off and when she went to go walk to her bed she saw that Stefan was gone. She climbed into bed and she laid there and she couldn't help but feel like complete shit.

 **A/N I am sorry about this chapter. It was just a filler chapter. The next chapter I post will be much better. Nevertheless, I hope you still enjoyed.**


	5. Chapter 5-Friday Night Bites Part A

_Chapter 5:_

Bonnie and Elena are walking outside of the school having a conversation when Stefan came over and greeted them.

"Good morning, Elena. Good morning, Bonnie."

As soon as Bonnie saw Stefan she felt immediately awkward and stirred up any excuse to leave.

"Hey, um, I gotta find Caroline. She's not answering her phone. So I'll see you guys later." And before either Stefan or Elena knew if Bonnie was gone. Elena tried to call after her, but she didn't listen.

"She doesn't like me very much." Stefan pointed out.

"She doesn't know you. She's my best friend. She's just looking out for me. But when she does, she will love you." Elena said trying to be positive. Off to the side Matt and Tyler are tossing around a football. Tyler of course was taunting Matt about how Stefan and Elena are officially together.

"Here's what we're going to do. Are you free tonight?" Elena asked with her normal preppy smile.

"Yes."

"Perfect. Dinner, my house. 8:00. You, me, and Bonnie. You two will spend some quality time and she'll get to see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished." Stefan couldn't help but think of Madeline and her face when he told her he kissed Elena.

"Is it okay if Madeline comes?" Stefan asked. Elena looked skeptical at first. She didn't know if Madeline was going to be a problem in the future, but since it was Stefan's friend she wasn't going to say no.

"Yeah, if you want." Stefan didn't have much time to react because Tyler had the brilliant idea to throw a football at him. Stefan swiftly turned around a caught the football without any trouble. In return, Stefan threw the ball back with an incredible amount of strength. When Tyler caught the ball it took him aback a little bit.

* * *

When the bell rang Madeline left the guidance counselors office. She was told that they had to switch some of her classes because there were to many students in some classes and it just so happened her first class was switched to Mr. Tanner's class. She had somehow avoided Mr. Tanner for 2 years and it was something she wasn't going to complain about. Caroline would always tell her how rude he was to all his , Madeline had to suck it up and walk to the class.

Just in her luck, she didn't arrive to the door until classes already started. She slowly took a deep breath before opening the door. Her eyes shot to Stefan who was leaned over saying something to Elena. It took a second for everyone to realized Madeline just walked into the class and when they did Mr. Tanner didn't appreciate her interrupting his class.

"Is there a reason you are interrupting my class young lady?" Mr. Tanner glared. Madeline tried not to stutter like she usually did, but it happened anyways.

"I-I got switched..um..into this class...and-" Before Madeline could say anything else Mr. Tanner stopped her and said, "Just have a seat and try not to make scene."

Madeline put her head down and walked to one of the seats all the way in the back of the room. She tried to ignore the fact that Stefan was looking at her hoping she would look his way. Madeline just thought that she should keep her distance from Stefan because she knew that Elena didn't like her that much and she also knew that Elena was the jealous type and she didn't want to give her the wrong idea.

When Madeline sat down she pulled out one of the books she got from Stefan and started to read.

"Ms. Clairwell?" The teacher called. Madeline's head shot up and she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Sorry what?" She asked.

"Pearl Harbor?" He asked again. Madeline's mind went completely blank from being put on the spot.

"December 7, 1941." Everyone now went from looking at Madeline to looking at Stefan.

"Thank you Miss Clairwell." Mr. Tanner said sarcastically to Stefan.

"Anytime." Stefan replied.

"Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall." Tanner challenged.

"1989. I'm good with dates, sir." Stefan told him as if he was accepting the challenge.

" Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act."

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963.

"Martin Luther King."

"'68."

"Lincoln."

"1865."

"Roe vs. Wade."

"1973."

"Brown vs. Board."

"1954."

"The battle of Gettysburg."

"1863.

"Korean war."

"1950 to 1953."

"Ha! It ended in '52." Mr. Tanner thought he caught Stefan.

"Uh, actually, sir, it was '53." Stefan corrected.

"Look it up, somebody. Quickly." Tanner yelled. Madeline pulled out her phone even though she already knew Stefan was right.

"It was 19...53." Madeline said as she pretended to read off her phone. Then everything was saved by the bell. Everyone grabbed there stuff and left. Madeline managed to get out before Stefan and Elena did and she was speed walking out of the school.

When she got outside she went to the bleachers and climbed to the top. While she sitting there watching football practice Stefan came over. "Hey Madeline." He said from the bottom of the bleachers. "Hey." Madeline said tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Can I join you up there?" Stefan asked. Madeline thought for a second and nodded her head. So he stepped up the bleachers and sat next to Madeline.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked. Madeline kept looking at the field and answered.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Stefan looked at the side of her face and he could obviously tell something was wrong.

"It just feels like you're avoiding me. Is it because of Elena?" Stefan tries to figure out what was wrong.

"I'm not avoiding you; we just don't hang out with the same people. And that's fine." Madeline told him.

"Well, Elena is inviting you over to dinner with me, her, and Bonnie. And I wouldn't worry about us hanging out with different people because it's looking like Bonnie doesn't like me." Stefan tries to make her feel better.

"I'm sure this dinner was meant to fix that." Madeline wasn't wrong of course.

"That doesn't matter because no matter who my new friends are, you are still my most important one." Stefan assured her.

"Promise?" Madeline asked as she finally looked at him.

"Yeah promise." Stefan said as a smile spread across his face and somehow it was contagious because Madeline started to smile too. As Madeline turned back to the field Matt saw her looking at everybody so he took his helmet off and smiled at her. Unfortunately, Stefan saw this happen as Madeline smiled back at Matt.

"So you and Matt, huh?" Stefan said as he tried to hide the jealousy in his voice, but Madeline caught it.

"Somebody sounds jealous." Madeline laughs as Stefan smiles embarrassingly.

"No he's just a friend I guess. He's pretty nice." Madeline admitted. If Stefan was a little jealous Madeline kind of just brushed it off because she had admitted to herself that she is jealous of Elena and Stefan, but she can't say she didn't expect it. She knew that Elena was really pretty and popular so she couldn't really blame Stefan for getting together with her.

"You know, Elena was trying to get me to try out for football. I don't really know if it is something I want to do again. What do you think?" Stefan asked for his friends opinion.

"I think that if you tried out for the team you could try and you know, make friends with the other guys and if it's something you actually enjoy doing, then that's just the icing on top." Madeline told him. "So yes I want you to go. Have fun." Madeline further encouraged.

"Alright I'll do it." Stefan decided with a small smile on his face. "I'll pick you up at your house before dinner." He said as he stepped down the bleachers. Madeline watched as Stefan walked over to the coach, who just happened to be Mr. Tanner.

Then all of a sudden a car pulled up next to cheerleading practice. Madeline watched as Caroline kissed some guy and got out of the car. Once Caroline walked over to the girls Madeline saw that the guy was actually Damon. He was obviously already looking at her and when he saw that she finally saw it was him, he nudged his head suggesting that she come over to him.

Madeline watched Stefan who was still talking to Mr. Tanner and completely oblivious to the fact that his brother here. It took a second, but Madeline decided to go over to Damon.

Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline watched as Madeline walked over to the car. "What are you doing here?" Madeline asked.

"As you saw, I dropped off Caroline." Damon said looking over Madeline's shoulder and saw Caroline looking at him with scowling.

"So you're her boyfriend now?" Madeline laughed. Caroline was her friend and she could honestly do better than Damon not to mention that Damon is like 20 something years old and Caroline is only 17.

"I don't like labels. This place looks boring let's go somewhere." Damon suggested. Madeline looked at Damon like he was crazy.

"You want me to skip school?! I've never done that before." She said nervously. Damon looked at Madeline with his usual smirk then leaned over to open the door for her.

"Come on. Live a little." Madeline thought about for a second before pulling the door all the way open and jumping in. As Damon put the car in drive ALL eyes were on them.

"What is she doing?" Caroline muttered to herself.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Madeline asked.

"Where do you wanna go?" Damon looked over at Madeline who was already looking at him.

"I'm kind of in the mood for going to the movies." Madeline admitted.

"Is this your discreet way of asking me out. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I already have my hands full with Caroline." Damon said with a smirk.

"Don't flatter yourself," Madeline laughed, "But seriously, let's go to the movies. As friends." Madeline emphasized the last part.

Damon ended up driving to a local Movie Theater and they are looking at all the movies that are on.

"So, what do you want to watch?" Damon asked looking at the list.

"Umm," Madeline trailed her eyes down the list until something caught her eye, " 8 Mile." Madeline said with excitement.

"That's what you want to watch?" Damon asked curiously.

"Yes. Have you seen it before?"

"Nope."

"Seriously?" Madeline was surprised.

"Yeah." Damon said like it wasn't a big deal.

"Okay we are definitely watching it now." Madeline told him before running up to the booth like an excited child leaving a smiling Damon behind her.

"Can I buy two tickets to 8 Mile?" Madeline asked the guy behind the booth. If it wasn't for Madeline's teenage like features she would be mistaken for a middle schooler because of her height. So after the guy took a good look at Madeline he said, "$19.95."

Madeline pulled out a 20 and put it on the desktop. He took the 20 then went into a draw and laid two tickets down in front of Madeline. She took the tickets and walked back over to Damon.

"Let's go." She said with a huge smile on her face and Damon was sure that he hasn't seen anybody so happy to see a movie they have already seen before.

* * *

After about an hour and a half Madeline and Damon finished the movie and Damon drove Madeline home.

"Tell the truth. Did you like it?" Madeline asked as she sat outside her house in Damon's car.

"It wasn't the worst movie I've seen." Damon said.

"Stop lying you loved it." Madeline told him with a laugh. Damon looked at Damon and smiled.

"Well, I got to get inside. So, I'll see you later." Madeline said before getting out of the car.

"Yeah." Damon said. Madeline gave Damon one last look before walking into her house.

Madeline got inside and saw that nobody was home again. So, she went upstairs and jumped into the shower for about 20 minutes. When she got out she changed into a pair of black leggings, a maroon shirt, and a jean jacket. She walked towards her mirror and and saw her small figure just standing there. She decided to leave her hair curly. Once she was happy with her look she sat on her bed and read one of her books.

Madeline was to caught up in her book to realize that a whole 2 hours had passed until she heard the doorbell ring. She put her book down and slipped on her black, high-top, Vans.

She quickly walked down the stairs and opened the door revealing a smiling Stefan.

"Ready?"


	6. Chapter 6-Friday Night Bites Part B

_Chapter 6:_

Stefan and Madeline were now riding in his car on their way to Elena's house. There was this weird tension between the two and it seemed like it was going to be there until one of them said something.

"I didn't see you in school after I saw you on the bleachers." Stefan broke the silence.

"Yeah, I left with Damon to go see a movie?" Stefan already knew that she had left with his brother because pretty much everyone saw them.

"So, you and Damon are friends now?" Stefan tried to hide the suspicion in his voice.

"I guess so. I don't really know him, but he seem pretty fun." Madeline said.

Stefan had to admit that he wasn't exacting jumping up and down at the idea of Madeline and Damon growing closer. He didn't completely understand why he gets the wave of jealousy that washes over him every time Madeline talks about another guy or hangs out with them. He had Elena and that's what he wanted. Right?

"Is it just me or do you think this whole dinner is going to be super awkward and weird?" Madeline changed the subject.

"It's definitely not just you." Stefan assured as he pulled up to Elena's house.

"Good." Madeline got out of the car with Stefan and walked up the door.

* * *

Bonnie, Elena, Stefan, and Madeline were sitting at the table eating take out food served on nice plates, and the only sound you could hear was the sound of forks clashing against plates.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena tried to start conversation.

"Well he let me on the team, so I must have done something right." Stefan smiled. Everything got quiet again until Elena tried again.

"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw the ball-"

"Yeah, I heard." Bonnie brushed off.

"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Even Madeline saw how hard Elena was trying to start a conversation.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Bonnie deduced.

"No, about the witches. Bonnie's family comes from a long line of witches." Elena told Stefan. "That's cool." Madeline spoke up for the first time.

"Cool's not the word I'd use." Bonnie stated as if she were ashamed of her heritage.

"Well, it certainly is interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there is a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800's." Stefan told Bonnie and everyone physically saw her loosen her bolts a little bit.

"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie said.

"Really? Salem witches?" Stefan sounded surprised but impressed at the same time.

"Yeah."

"I would say that's pretty cool." Stefan admitted.

"Really? Why?"

"Salem witches are heroic examples individualism and nonconformity."

"Yeah they are." Bonnie said with a small smile on her face which let everyone know she had finally warmed up to Stefan. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Elena said and went to answer the door. Madeline heard Caroline's loud perky voice from where she was sitting but the voice that came after hers made both Stefan and Madeline get out of their seat and see who it was.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked when he saw Damon waiting on the other side of the door. Madeline finally emerged from the kitchen and into Damon's line of vision. When he saw her, he gave her his infamous smirk.

"Waiting for Elena to invite me in." Damon answered.

"Oh yeah, you can…" Elena was about to finish, but Stefan automatically stopped her.

"No, no,no. He can't, uh, he can't stay. Can you Damon?" Stefan tried to get Damon to take a hint. However, this whole exchange make Madeline suspicious. Caroline took it upon herself to walk in and when she saw Damon wasn't behind her she said, "Come on. Get in here."

"We're…just finishing up." Stefan told Damon.

"It's fine. Just come in." Elena finally said. Damon looked at Stefan like he just claimed victory and walked into the house.

"You have a beautiful home, Elena." Damon complimented as he walked towards Madeline and moved his eyebrows in that sexy way he always did. Madeline simply raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow as Stefan watched the two look at each other in jealousy.

* * *

"I can't believe Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it." Caroline encouraged. Madeline sat on the right side of the couch with her arm propped up on the arm of the couch and her head resting in her hand. Stefan sat next her whilst Elena and Bonnie took residence on the other small couch. Damon took the couch chair and Caroline took the space on his lap. Everyone was sipping on coffee that Elena and Bonnie made for everyone.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it." Damon said with fake inspiration. Everybody in the room was aware that everything that came out Damon's mouth was complete bullshit, well except for Caroline.

"Yeah. Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you'll ever learn the routines." Caroline taunted in her bitchy voice.

"I'll teach her. She'll get it." Bonnie stepped in.

"I guess I could put her in the back." Caroline thought out loud.

"You know, you don't seem like the cheer leading type." Damon pointed out.

"Oh it's just 'cause her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just going through a blah phase. She use to be way more fun. Well, at least she was fun at some point in her life. I'm still trying to get Madeline to be fun. She never does anything fun. You know, in my whole time knowing her she barely talked to guys. But when she does, she just makes them like her even if they have a girlfriend." Caroline got stopped before she could say anything else.

"Caroline?!" Bonnie interrupted.

"What?! You're the one who told me that Elena didn't even want to invite her in the first place because she think that she likes Stefan." Caroline blurted out. When she saw that everyone was looking at her with wide eye and Madeline with sad eyes she said, "And I mean that with complete sensitivity." Caroline said finally realizing her mistake. Stefan looked over at Madeline and could practically see all the emotion pass through her. He put his hand and her leg and tried to make her feel better. Everyone saw this happen and let's just that Damon was the least happy of them all. But Madeline was just to angered to be in the same room as everybody, so she quickly got off the couch and walked into the kitchen with her cup

Madeline was boiling with anger. How could her best friend say all that stuff about her like that in front of everyone? She felt completely embarrassed and could feel the inside of her chest shake with anger as it spread throughout her body. She held her hand in the air and saw it shaking with an unbelievable amount of anger.

It made Madeline more aggravated that she let Caroline get her thing angry. So she did the one thing that would make her stop shaking. She walked over to a wall and balled her hand in a fist. She swiftly threw her fist at the wall next to the toaster as hard as she could. Once she retreated her hand she saw that there was now an indent in the wall where her little, but powerful, fist was just. Between the panic and the pain she didn't know what to do. So she moved the toaster over a little bit so it could cover the indent. All she could do was hope that nobody ever moved the toaster.

Madeline walked over to the sink and figured that she mine as well do the dishes while she was there. She looked down at her hand and saw that it was beyond red and had already started bruising. She ignored the pain and just started to rinse off the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. After about 6 minute someone else walked into the kitchen.

"One more." Damon said handing Madeline a cup. Madeline looked over and was about to grab it, but it slipped from her hands. Thankfully, Damon used his fast reflexes and caught it before it hit the floor.

"Thanks." Madeline said once she actually got the cup in her hands.

"You really shouldn't listen to Caroline. She can be very dramatic at times and you probably know that." Damon suggested.

"Yeah I know. But she's my best friend." Madeline said as she rinsed out the cup.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you're a blast." Damon said with a smirk. Madeline looked at him and couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks. You're pretty fun yourself too." Madeline complimented.

"I know. And I can be a lot more fun too." Damon said getting closer while Madeline froze with a plate in her hand. Damon took the plate from her and put it in the dishwasher all while keeping eye contact.

"No more flirting." Madeline warned with a slight laugh.

"I'm not flirting. Just stating a fact." Damon said cockily.

"Earlier...did you mean Katherine?" Madeline questioned since she overheard the conversation in the living room.

"Eavesdropping I see." Damon said.

"Not eavesdropping. Overhearing." Madeline corrected.

"Either way, yeah." Damon answered.

"How did she died?"

"Fire. Very tragic." Damon answered another question.

"What was she like?"

"She was beautiful. A lot like you in that department," Madeline tried to hide her blush, "She was also very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive."

"She sounds...nice. So this is my last question about your past, promise. Which one of you guys dated her first?" Madeline figured out.

"Nicely deduced. Ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine. I would go out more if I were you. Specifically with me." Damon changes the subject.

"Why do you say that?" Madeline asked.

"So you can avoid people like Caroline calling you out in front of everyone. And with me because, well, why wouldn't you want me to tag along." Damon said doing that eyebrow thing again.

"You're right. But I'll think about you tagging along." Madeline teased. In all reality Madeline couldn't think of anyone better to loosen up with, except obviously Stefan.

"Okay. Think about it." Damon said sarcastically. Madeline closed the dishwasher and completely turned to Damon.

"I just wanted to say...I'm sorry about Katherine. You lost her too." Damon say sincerity in her face and couldn't believe this girl in front of him. She barely even knew him and was already apologizing for something that happened to his crazy ex.

Damon looked down and couldn't help but notice Madeline's bruised hand. She saw that he noticed and put her good hand over her bruised one. Damon already knew that she hurt her hand because of what Caroline said and he couldn't help but feel a strong hatred for the blonde. But he carefully composed himself and got ready to say something. But was interrupted by Elena walking in.

"Hey, Madeline. Can I talk to you for a second?" Madeline gave Damon a look and he nodded before stepping back into living room.

"I just wanted to say sorry about what Caroline said. I didn't-" Madeline cut her off.

"You don't have to apologize. I know what she said about you not wanting me over is probably correct anyways." Madeline said.

"Okay, okay. I have to admit that I was afraid that you liked Stefan. I know that you and him are close and I didn't want it to ruin what I have with him. So when he asked if you come come to dinner I was a little anxious." Elena explained.

"Stefan really likes you Elena. You don't have to worry about me getting in the way of that." Madeline told Elena.

She finally looked like she believed Stefan really liked her and that Madeline isn't going to ruin it. "Friends?" Elena asked holding out a hand. Madeline looked at her hand before shaking it with her good hand.

 **A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but good news is that you should expecting another chapter either today or tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed anyways. (:**


	7. Chapter 7-Friday Night Bites Part C

_Chapter 7:_

"You look pretty hot in your jersey." Madeline admitted as she walked around with Stefan before his game.

Stefan laughed and then asked, "Does your hand feel better?"

 _(Flashback)_

 _Stefan and Madeline were sitting in the car outside Madeline's house. "Is it if okay if talk to you inside?" Stefan asked. Madeline turned to the look out the window and saw that her father was home._

" _My father's inside so you'll have to go through my window. If you climb up that tree and get onto the roof I'll let you in." Madeline told him. He nodded and she got out of the car. Once she got inside she was presented with the angry look of her father._

" _Where have you been? School ended hours ago." Mr. Clairwell asked suspiciously._

" _I was having dinner at Elena's." Madeline answered respectfully._

" _Sheriff Forbes informs me that you've been spending a lot of time with a boy. Stefan Salvatore." He pointed out._

" _Stefan is just a friend." Madeline said without any emotion so her father wouldn't think she felt a particular emotion to the kid._

" _He better be. You know how I feel about you dating guys that carry the last name of one of the founding families." Mr. Clairwell warned._

" _I know, father."_

" _Good. You can go up to your room now." Madeline walked by her father and up to her room. When she got in she saw Stefan waiting outside her window. Before walking further into her room she closed her door and locked it._

 _Madeline automatically went to her window and opened it so Stefan could get inside. As he got into the room Madeline went and sat on her bed waiting for Stefan to join her. After a few seconds Stefan was sitting next to Madeline in silence._

 _Madeline was looking down at her hand and saw it was no longer red but extremely bruised. Stefan saw that Madeline was looking at her hand so he looked at it to and saw her purple and blue hand all swollen up._

" _What happened?" Stefan turned around to face Madeline._

" _I got mad and ended up punching the wall." Madeline said. Stefan took Madeline's hand and examined it. "It doesn't even really hurt." Madeline said. Stefan touched a certain part of her hand and Madeline jumped and winced with pain. "Okay maybe a little." Stefan looked up at her and smiled._

" _You ice this tonight." Stefan ordered. "I'm fine." Madeline ensured. Stefan gave her a look that said 'just listen to me'. "Fine. I'll ice it." Madeline said._

" _Do you like Damon?" Stefan asked out of the blue. Madeline didn't expect for Stefan to ask that question, but she tried to answer as quickly as she could._

" _He's my best friend's boyfriend." Madeline said._

" _That's not what I asked."_

" _Damon's my friend. I don't know him enough to feel anything stronger than that. I don't understand why you care though." Madeline told Stefan._

" _Because I care about you and I know my brother. He can be dangerous." Stefan tried to explain._

" _I can handle myself, Stefan." Madeline said sounding offended that Stefan doesn't think she can handle herself._

" _I know you can. But this is different." Stefan said._

" _How is this different?" Madeline crossed her arms._

" _It just is Madeline." Stefan sighed._

" _You can't just tell me something and expect me except it without any questions ask."_

" _Can you just trust me on this?" Stefan asked. Madeline groaned and laid herself back so she could look up at her ceiling. Stefan did the same._

" _Okay how about this; the moment I start to fall in love with someone that I think is bad for me I'll use a safe word. The safe word will be...coconut." Madeline decided._

" _Why coconut?" Stefan asked._

" _Because it's something that is completely random and no one will know what it means except us."_

 _(End of Flashback)_

"Yeah, just like you asked." Madeline smiled. "Good. I have something for you." Stefan stopped walking. "Huh?" Madeline asked stopping with him. He pulled a small box out of his pocket and handed it to Madeline.

"I was going through some of my old things and I found this laying around. I figured you would like it." Stefan rambled. Madeline opened up the box with a smile and was presented with a small silver chain that had a blue jewel hanging in the the middle.

"This is beautiful. Are you sure you want to give me this? It looks very valuable." Madeline asked as she stared at the bracelet. Stefan took the bracelet out of the box and clipped it around her wrist.

"Yes, I'm sure. And I wanted to thank you for pushing me to try out for the team. It feels good."

"No problem. I'm known for my fantastic advice." Madeline laughed. The conversation between the two didn't go any further because Elena came along and walked straight up to Stefan.

"Oh look at you. You look hot in your new jersey." Elena complimented.

"That's my que to leave. See you guys later." Madeline said awkwardly before walking away. She didn't get very far before a familiar blonde headed boy stopped her.

"Hey Madeline." She turned around and saw a smiling Matthew in front of her.

"Hi Matt. I was actually planning on talking to you, but since you're here now I have a question."

"Shoot."

"I was wondering if you could help me get a job at the Grill." Madeline told her.

"I could ask my boss if he would be interested in hiring you. I'll put in a good word." Matt offered.

"Thanks. That means a lot." Madeline thanked.

"No problem. Why do you need a job anyways?" Matt asked.

"My parents think it would be a good way to get me out of the house more." Madeline partially told the truth. Her mother had informed her that her dad was going to be having a lot of "important" people coming over around the time she get out of school for a while. So she said that having a job would keep her busy for most of that time.

"Oh okay. Well if you ever get bored you could alway just text me and we could hang out." Matt flirted. But Madeline being Madeline didn't catch on a said, "In order for me to text you I'll need your number." She pulled out her phone and handed it to him. He smiled and put his number the phone.

"There." he said before handing the phone back.

"Good luck with the game by the way." Madeline said with her sweet smile.

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later." Matt said before running off.

* * *

It dark out now and Madeline is standing in the front of the crowd of students who are tailgating and cheering for the team. As Stefan stands with the team he locates Madeline and waves to her. She saw him and gave him an encouraging smile. Elena, who wasn't very far from Madeline, saw this exchange and couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

"Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!" Mr. Tanner began his pep-talk. Then everyone from the crowd booed. "But that is about to change." Now everyone cheers. "We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!" Everyone, including Madeline, cheered.

While Mr. Tanner finished his pep-talk Madeline started to feel a bit cold so she left the crowd to get her jacket. As she walked past a bunch of kid who were sitting on trucks and just hanging out, she saw a familiar face. Jeremy Gilbert.

All of sudden Tyler came storming over to Jeremy with Vicki trying to push him back. Before anyone knew it Jeremy and Tyler were on the floor pushing each other repetitively.

Madeline ran over to them to attempt to stop the fight, but Stefan got there before she did. Just before Tyler could strike Jeremy in the face again Stefan grabbed his fist. Tyler looked at who was restraining him and threw a punch at his torso with his free hand. Surprisingly, it didn't affect Stefan in the least.

As Tyler's changed to a shocked expression Jeremy picked up a broken glass bottle and was about to charge it at Tyler, but Madeline saw it coming at grabbed his wrist to stop the glass bottle from going any further.

"Stop." Madeline said as she took the bottle out of his hand and threw it to the ground. Elena came running over to see if Jeremy was okay, whist Matt came and grabbed Tyler.

"Are you okay?" Madeline asked Stefan.

"Yeah I'm fine." Before Madeline could saw anything else Elena came running over to see if Stefan was okay.

Madeline walked away and went to go do what she initially wanted to do. When she got to her car she pulled out her favorite black hoodie. As she pulled it over her petite figure a voice made her heart jump out of her chest.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Madeline quickly turned around and saw a smirking Damon looking at her.

"Jesus Damon. Give me heart a heart attack why don't you. What are you doing here?" Madeline asked trying to slow down her heart.

"Couldn't miss Stefan's big game." Damon said as if it was obvious.

"When I said here I meant 'here'. The game is over there." Madeline pointed out.

"I'm hiding from Caroline." Damon leaned forward and whispered.

"Isn't she your girlfriend?" Madeline asked.

"She talks more than I can listen. I needed a break." Damon shrugged.

"Hate to break it to you, but that might be a sign."

"Well, she is awfully young." Damon said thoughtfully.

"She is only all of 3 years younger than you. Not much of a difference."

"I don't see it going anywhere in the long run. She'd drive me crazy."

"Than break it off. If you don't like her don't lead her on. She has some annoying trait, but I've known her forever and that means something to me." Madeline stated.

"Duly noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention."

"Uncomfortable, no. Aggravated, yes. And that might not be your intention, but you definitely have other intentions." Madeline figured out.

"You're right. I do have other intentions, but so do you." Damon said stepping closer.

"Enlighten me." Madeline said.

"You want me." Madeline looked shocked and than amusement washed over her face.

"Really?" Madeline asked rolling her eyes.

"Yup. I get to you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me even when you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dreamed about me. And right now...You want to kiss me." Madeline couldn't help but notice that Damon's eyes dilated as his face inched closer to Madeline's until she could feel his breath. All of a sudden Madeline moved her head to the side, to his ear and whispered, "In your dreams," before walking away, leaving a stunned Damon.

* * *

Madeline was standing by herself watching as the police and ambulance filled the driveway as men carried Mr. Tanner's body in the back of the the truck. She wrapped her arms around herself and just watched in disbelief.

"Hey, I was looking for you. Are you okay?" Stefan asked when he saw the girl.

"Yeah, I just can't help but think that an animal couldn't have just came here to kill one person and then disappear. I mean it sounds a bit unrealistic. Poor Mr. Tanner." Madeline said as she saw the men close the doors to the back of the ambulance.

Madeline didn't know what to feel. She hadn't had someone she knew just die out of nowhere in a while. She wasn't sure if she should cry or be angry or do anything other than just stand there watching. Stefan could practically see the wheels turning in Madeline head. He didn't know what to do other than hug her. So that's what he did and she didn't argue. Madeline didn't realize how much she needed that hug until she was in Stefan's arms. She didn't cry or speak. She just let him hold her in comforting silence.

* * *

Madeline walked out of her bathroom with a pair of blue pajama pants and a white tank top. Her long hair was still damp from her shower so she let it drape over the back of her shirt. She climbed into bed and looked up at the ceiling. Today went downhill so quickly and all Madeline wanted to do was sleep and block everything in the world out for a few hours. And that's what she did.


	8. Chapter 8-Family Ties

_Chapter 8:_

 _(Dream)_

 _Madeline was walking, but not sure where. It was dark and it felt like she was just walking through an endless tunnel of black darkness. Then all of a sudden a line of fire started to circle around Madeline so she couldn't go any further._

" _What's happening?!" Madeline yelled at no one specifically._

" _You need to stay away from them." A woman's voice stated. Madeline turned around to see who was speaking, but nobody was there._

" _You will end up dead if you keep in contact with them." Madeline turned around again, but still nothing. "Who?" Madeline yelled at the voice._

" _Get out of town. It is no longer safe for you here." Madeline turned around again only to be presented with what looked like Stefan and Damon. Except it didn't look like them. The whites around their eyes had turned red and there were reddish-grey veins forming under their eyes. Lastly, they opened their mouths to show their fangs._

 _Madeline let out a bone chilling scream and backed away. However, she forget about the circle of fire around her and ended up burning the side of her arm. She yelped in pain before going back to the middle of the circle. The flames began to rise and the heat caused Madeline to sweat. The flames continued to grow higher until it completely enveloped Madeline._

 _(End Dream)_

"Ahh!" Madeline screamed as she shot up from bed. She looked around her room before wiping her forehead. She quickly pushed the covers off of her and made her way to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and saw how bad she looked, so she turned on the sink and splashed water on her face before drying it of with a nearby hand cloth.

Just as she was about to walk away she felt this huge rush of pain go through her arm. She looked in the mirror and saw that the side her arm was bright red. She touched it and flinched at the amount of pain it caused. Then she thought of her dream and how she burned herself in it.

But that's not possible. Whatever happens in your dreams stay in your dreams, right?

The pain was growing by the second so Madeline found the first aid kit and wrapped up her arm. Just as she finished she heard the doorbell ring. She left the bathroom and made her way downstairs to the door. As soon as Madeline opened the door she regretted it.

"Aww not happy to see me?" Damon asked with sarcasm.

"I'm jumping up and down on the inside." Madeline said with a fake smile.

"I'm just here to talk." Damon stated.

"Okay. Talk." Madeline said standing her doorway.

* * *

Madeline had invited Damon inside because she was tired of standing in the doorway.

"So why are you here?" Madeline asked wanting to get straight to the point.

"To ask you to the Founder's Party." Damon answered.

"Maybe you should ask your girlfriend." Madeline told him.

"She thinks her mother will yell at her if she comes with me."

"She's not wrong."

"And Caroline's perfectly fine with us going together. You can even ask her yourself." Damon said with a smile. Madeline couldn't get the image of Damon and Stefan in her dream out of her head. She knew it wasn't true, but it still scared her.

"What happened to your arm." Damon asked having noticed it since she opened the door for him.

"I burned myself on the stove." Madeline lied easily; however, Damon didn't believe her, but played along.

"Fine I'll go with you." Madeline changed the subject. Damon had a look of victory on his face and was about to say something, but Madeline stopped him.

"But not because I want to." Madeline finished.

"Whatever you say. I'll pick you up at 7:30" Damon said before letting himself out.

* * *

At 5:45 Matt texted her saying that his boss is interested in hiring her and that he wants to meet her. So, Madeline got dressed and headed to the Grill.

"Matt." Madeline called over once she got to the Grill. Matt looked at her and then pointed to a guy who was standing behind a bar. Madeline guessed that was his boss and went over to him.

"Hi I'm Madeline." Madeline introduced herself.

"So you're the one that wants the job?" The guy asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm Patrick. Are you a clumsy person?" Patrick asked.

"No." Madeline answered truthfully.

"Are you forgetful and rude?" He asked.

"No." Madeline said again.

"Then you got the job." Patrick said simply.

"That's it?" Madeline asked surprisingly.

"Yup. You can start tomorrow at 3." Patrick said before walking away from the young girl.

Madeline was surprised at how easily he gave her the job. She looked over at Matt who was already looking her way and gave him a thumbs up.

Madeline was about to leave when Bonnie and Caroline entered. So, she decided to join them.

"Hey guys." Madeline said happily.

"Hi Madeline. Are you here with someone?" Bonnie asked.

"No, I came to talk to Matt's boss about getting a job here."

"Why would you want a job?" Caroline asked.

"Boredom I guess. Anyways, I wanted to ask you if you told Damon that it's alright for me to go to the Founder's Party with him." Madeline said.

"Yeah. You know my mom. She would kill me if I showed up with him as my date. And you're my best friend. I know you wouldn't try anything with him." Caroline said with her usual perky smile.

"Oh okay. Just wanted to make sure you were okay with it." Madeline said suspiciously. It didn't sound like Caroline. She never liked other girls talking to her boyfriend let alone take them as their date.

"I also wanted to apologize for what I said about you at dinner. It was completely out of line and I don't think of you that way." Caroline apologized.

"All is forgiven." Madeline nodded her head.

"Well, since you aren't going with Damon that means I won't have to go solo. Do you wanna come over Elena's to get ready with us? I'm sure she'll be fine with it." Bonnie offered.

"Umm….I think I'm gonna get ready on my own, but thanks for asking." Madeline kindly declined.

"Okay. I'll see you the the party than." Bonnie said. They all said their goodbyes before Madeline left to go home.

* * *

When Madeline got home it was already 6:20, so she decided to take a quick shower before getting ready. When she got out she was in her robe and started to straight her hair. After doing her hair she started her makeup. She picked up her eyeliner that was almost never used and did her wings. After that she decided to put on some mascara and a dark nude lipstick. She looked in the mirror and noticed how the eyeliner and mascara made her blue eyes pop out even more.

For the dress she decided to go with an off-the-shoulder black skater dress and matched it with a pair of black flats. She looked in the mirror at her small figue and felt like something was missing. She looked on her burral and saw the bracelet that Stefan gave her. She picked it up and clasped it on her wrist. Now it was perfect.

On time as always, Damon rang the doorbell at 7:30 just like he said. Madeline hurried down the stairs and to the door. Damon wasn't prepared for how beautiful the small girl he had come to be fond of looked. After a moment of staring Damon cleared his throat and said, "You look very nice."

"You don't look so bad yourself." Madeline complimented.

* * *

"Madeline, you look gorgeous." Mrs. Lockwood complimented as Madeline and Damon entered the building.

"Thanks you, Mrs. Lockwood. This is my friend Damon." Madeline introduced.

"Oh. Well, come on in." Mrs. Lockwood invited.

"Lovely to meet you. I've been looking forward to this party for quite a while." Damon says politely.

"Well enjoy."

Madeline and Damon walked into the mansion and the first thing Damon said was, "Let's get a drink."

"Are you an alcoholic?" Madeline asked. Damon stopped with amusement on his face.

"I say we should get one drink and I'm an alcoholic?" Damon laughed.

"No. But when you drink does it make you feel better? Like calmer?" Madeline asked.

"I don't know. I guess." Damon shrugged.

"Can you handle your liquor?" Madeline asked.

"What do you think?" Damon asked wiggling his eyebrows.

Madeline ignored his facial expression and said, "I think you have an alcohol problem."

A waiter passed by with a tray of champagne and Damon took 2. He handed one to Madeline.

"I think I'm fine." Damon said drinking from the glass.

"Okay. But don't come crying to me when you become an old, fat, bald guy who drinks all day long." Madeline stated then took a sip from her champagne.

All Damon did was laugh and walk with Madeline by his side. They walked into a room that had the Original Guest Registry. Stefan and Elena were standing there looking at it. Stefan had a look of panic until Damon said, "The original Salvatore brothers. Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually."

Stefan immediately turned around at the sound of his brother's voice and couldn't stop the look of shock that creeped up on his face. He didn't even know Madeline was coming to the Founder's Partly let alone with his brother.

He hated how they looked together. Damon was quick to notice the unsettlement in Stefan's face when he saw Madeline with him. Madeline looked between the two brothers and was confused at why Stefan looked so tense.

"Let's not bore them with stories of the past." Stefan said sternly.

"It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family." Elena said urgingly.

"Well, this room seems a little to tense so I'm gonna go dance. Want to join me?" Madeline put down her glas and turned to Damon, but before he could reply Stefan stepped in.

"I'll be happy to dance with you." Stefan didn't want to leave Elena in the room with Damon, but he also didn't want Madeline and Damon to get any closer. "If that's alright with you." Stefan said towards Damon.

"It's up to you." Damon said to Madeline.

"I don't care who I dance with." Madeline said. "But you must know that I am a horrible dancer so don't expect to finish the dance with clean shoes." Madeline said truthfully.

"I'll take my chances." Stefan said holding out his hand. Madeline gratefully took it and the two walked out to the dance floor. Damon and Elena both watched with bittersweet looks. Damon would never admit to anyone, but he was a little jealous. As where Elena didn't bother to conceal how angry she was that Stefan would rather go dance with Madeline than be with her.

When they got onto the dance floor Stefan laid his hands on Madeline's waist as she rested her hands on his shoulders.

"So you came with Damon?" Stefan tried to start conversation.

"I wasn't planning on it, but I had no one else to go with. At least Bonnie didn't have to come by herself." Madeline said shrugging her shoulders.

"You could have asked me." Stefan suggested.

"And how do you think Elena would have reacted to that." Madeline asked rhetorically.

"Well on a brighter note, you look beautiful." Stefan spinning Madeline. She let out a laugh.

"You clean up pretty well yourself." Madeline said. As they danced Madeline stepped on Stefan's feet multiple times.

"I don't understand how you're such a good dancer." Madeline asked.

"Years and years of practice. I could teach you so that next time we dance you won't be on my feet the whole time." Stefan jokes.

"How funny," Madeline sticks her tounge out at him like a child, which causes him to laugh, "But you should seriously teach me how to dance." Madeline says.

"One day. We should hang out tomorrow." Stefan says.

"Okay."

"What happened to your arm?" Stefan noticed.

"I burnt myself on the stove." Then out of nowhere Damon pops up and says, "Is it okay if I steal my date for a dance." Stefan looked reluctant but eventually said, "She all yours," with a forced smile.

As Stefan walked off to the side Madeline and Damon started to dance much like how she did with Stefan. That includes the stepping on the feet.

"You weren't lying when you said you were a bad dancer." Damon laughed.

"I don't lie." Madeline stated.

"So are you having a good time tonight?" Damon asked.

"Absolutely. You?"

"Couldn't have been better." Damon smiles.

"Stefan hasn't taken his eyes off us since we started dancing." Damon pointed out. Madeline looked over at Stefan who was indeed looking directly at them. Caroline was standing next to him and she seemed to be saying something to him, but he kept on glancing over at Madeline and Damon.

"He's just being cautious I guess." Madeline said.

"Why is he being cautious?" Damon asked.

"He thinks you're dangerous." Madeline answered. Damon unexpectedly spinned Madeline and then spun her to his chest. Madeline's breath hitched in her throat at the sudden closeness.

"And what do you think?" Damon asked in a low voice as he looked deep into her ocean blue eyes. Madeline's brain was screaming at her to move and get out of this situation, but she was way to captivated in his icy blue eyes to make a move.

"I think you're capable." Madeline said in a whisper. Before anything else could happen Elena interrupted.

"Hey, can I talk to you for second?" Elena asked Madeline. Madeline quickly pushed herself off of Damon and composed herself.

"Yeah sure." Elena grabbed Madeline's wrist and dragged her away from everyone else.

"Caroline would have killed you if she saw that." Elena told Madeline.

"Saw what?" Madeline asked innocently.

"You know what. That moment you just had with Damon. You know Caroline as well as I do. Maybe even better. But she would've been heartbroken." Elena explained.

"I didn't mean for that to happen. It just did. And I don't even think I meant anything." Madeline defended herself.

"That's not what Caroline would've thought. And in all honesty I don't either." Elena confessed.

"I know. It looked bad." Madeline admitted.

The two went into the bathroom only to find Caroline in their fixing her makeup.

"Hey Care." Madeline said.

"Hi guys." Caroline smiled, "So how are things with Stefan?"

"Great. Just great." Elena replied.

"Really? Well, my radar must be off, 'cause I was getting all sorts of other vibes…" Caroline trailing off. Madeline noticed something on Caroline's neck. "What's that?" Madeline pointed at the bite mark on her neck. She tried lifting up her scarf, but Caroline just pushed her away.

"Oh god, What happened?" Elena asked.

"Nothing okay?!" Caroline said.

"That is not nothing. Did someone hurt you?" Madeline asked.

"No, okay, nothing. It just...My mom would kill me." Caroline said not wanting them to worry.

Elena pulls down her shawl and sees another bite mark on her back. "Did Damon hurt you!" Elena asked.

"No! Of course not! Just leave me alone. Okay, Elena?!" Caroline pushed Elena off of her.

Madeline walked out of the bathroom and saw Damon. She stormed up to him and pushed him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You need to stay away from Caroline or I'll go straight to her mother, the Sheriff. Got it." Madeline walked away leaving an angry Damon.


	9. Chapter 9-You're Undead to me Part A

_Chapter 9:_

4 days have past since the Founder's Party and Madeline hadn't heard from either Stefan or Damon. Stefan called her the day after the Founder's Party and said, "Um... I'm not going to be in school for a few days. I-uh have a...family thing to handle. So I'll see you when I come back."

Madeline understood that he had to take a few days out of school to deal with family problems that most likely had to do with Damon since the only family Stefan had in Mystic Falls were Damon and Zach.

Even though she was okay with it she still missed him being around, so when she saw Stefan walking in the schools halls while she was at her locker she bursted with joy. However, when she saw Stefan go up to Elena and Bonnie she decided not to go up to him. So she closed her locker and walked to her class.

As she was just about to walk into her class someone grabbed her wrist and turned her around.

"Stefan!" Madeline gasped from being startled. Stefan gave his best smile, but Madeline slapped his chest.

"Ouch." Stefan said even though it didn't hurt. Then Madeline pulled him into a hug. When she let go he looked at her with a confused look.

"I'm getting mixed messages."

"I slapped you because you were gone for 4 days and I hugged you because I missed you." Madeline explained.

"So you're not mad?" Stefan asked thinking that he would get the same reaction that Elena gave him.

"No. I get that you had to deal with your problems." Madeline told him truthfully.

"Thank you for understanding." Stefan said. He always admired how different Madeline was from Elena.

"Where's Damon?" Madeline asked. She knew that Damon hurt Caroline, but she still felt like she need to see him for some reason.

"He left town." Stefan said seriously.

"Is it because he hurt Caroline?" Madeline asked. She never thought she would feel sad over the fact that she wouldn't see him again.

"He needed help." Stefan told her. He could see that the fact that Damon left affected her, but he was kind of sad that she cared about him enough to be affected.

"Is he coming back? You know, after he gets the help he needs?" Madeline asked hopefully.

"I don't think so." Stefan said. Madeline felt her heart sink and she knew that she didn't want her last memory of Damon to be her yelling at him.

"Okay...well, are you going to the car wash tomorrow?" Madeline changed the subject.

"Yeah. You?" Stefan asked.

"Don't really have a choice since my best friend is running it." Madeline said just as the bell rang.

"Well, I'll see you later. Got to get to class." Madeline offered him a small smile before heading into her class. Stefan couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for locking up Damon because even though he hated the fact that Madeline cared about his brother, he knew that it hurt her to find out she won't ever see him again.

After a moment of these thoughts reminiscing through his brain he quickly composed himself and remembered the reason he had to lock up Damon. He was out control and he couldn't help but think that Madeline was the next one to pay the consequences of knowing and trusting Damon. He would know.

* * *

School went by fairly quickly for Madeline, so when the bell that indicated that school was over rang she found herself inviting Caroline over to her house to hang out and talk. At about 6:00 Caroline disappeared downstairs for a little while, but soon came back up. It was now 7:30 and the were playing music on Madeline's speaker as Caroline talked about Damon.

"I don't know. Maybe I let him bite me?" Caroline guessed.

"Why would you willingly let him bite you hard enough to leave scars?" Madeline asked as she rolled her eyes.

Madeline was laying on her bed facing the ceiling whilst her legs stood up against the wall.

"I don't know, but enough talk about Damon. I'm better off without him." Caroline decided as she went through Madeline's closet.

"You're right." Madeline agreed.

"I know I am. We need to hang out more. I got it!" Caroline exclaimed as an idea came to her, "We should have a girls day. We could go shopping, watch movies, do nails, and catch up in general."

Madeline thought about it for a second. It would be nice to go just hang out with her best friend and have someone to talk to. Plus, Caroline seems like she really needed it, especially after everything with Damon.

"I'm in." Madeline said with a smile.

"Oh god. I completely forgot about the Stefan thing." Caroline realized as confusion filled Madeline.

"What Stefan thing?"

"Come on Madeline. I'm your best friend. I saw how you looked when you saw Stefan in the hallways and how he went straight to Elena. You like him." Caroline shared her earlier suspicions.

"I-I don't like him." Madeline took her bottom lip between her teeth and looked anywhere away from Caroline.

"Hah! Now I definitely know you like him. I've known you since 1st grade. Everytime you lie she bite your lip." Caroline said in victory.

"I don't know how I feel. He likes Elena and I don't want to get in the way of that. I don't even know if he likes me like that." Madeline explained in an exasperated tone.

"Come on. Are you completely oblivious to the fact the he pretty much cares about you more than he does Elena? Just take a chance. Tell him how you feel." Caroline urged. She knows that she hasn't been the best friend to Madeline, but she wants to fix that.

"No, I don't want to get in between his relationship. If he doesn't want to be with her anymore and they break up I'll take my chance." Madeline said.

Caroline let out a loud sigh. "I'm gonna get some water."

When Caroline left the room Madeline thought about what she said. _Do I like Stefan?_ She didn't know what to feel. She just convinced Elena that she didn't have any feelings for Stefan and now she is questioning whether or not she should have said that. Now it felt like if she told Stefan she liked him it was breaking some sort of promise she made to Elena.

There was no way Madeline could express her feelings without someone getting hurt, and that was the last thing she wanted. Then what would she do? Hold back her feelings to spare anyone from getting hurt? Although it would most likely end up hurting her in the long run? She didn't know.

"Hey I know what will make you feel better." Caroline said making herself known at the doorway, "Food."

"I don't think food is going to make me feel better Caroline." Madeline smiled.

"Come on try it. It always helps get me out of a slump." She pleaded.

"I'm not in a slump." Madeline denied.

"Just try it. It won't kill you." Caroline continued to push. Madeline gave in and groaned as she took her feet off the wall and picked herself off the bed. "Fine." Madeline descended from the stairs and she immediately smelt something good. As she reached the bottom she was presented with a smiling Stefan standing by her kitchen table which had 2 plates full of food on top.

"Stefan? What are you doing here?" Madeline asked in shock.

"I heard that lasagna was your favorite meal and I thought what better way get to know more about each other than over dinner." Stefan said. Madeline couldn't help but let a smile creep onto her face at this gesture.

"Did Caroline know about this?" Madeline asked.

"She's the one who let me in." Stefan said. Madeline laughed at the idea that Caroline managed to keep a secret from her.

"Wow. Thank you. This is really sweet." Madeline smiled as she walked towards the table. Stefan politely pulled the chair out for her and sat himself down across from her.

"So what would you like to know about me?" Stefan asked.

Madeline stuck her fork into the lasagna and took a bite. "I would like to know how you learned to cook to well."

"Lots and lots of practice. My parents were very into their Italian culture, so as soon as I was old enough to use the stove they taught me everything they knew about cooking. I guess that means all that teaching paid off."

"Absolutely. Okay, so what do you enjoy watching on TV?" Madeline asked as she picked at her food.

"I think 'Seinfeld' is the best American television show for the past 50 years, but 'I Love Lucy' is all-time. 'The loving cup' episode was the best, I think. Huge Scorsese fan. I can watch 'Taxi Driver' over and over again." Stefan shared.

"Interesting," Madeline smiled at the fact the Stefan was opening up to her, "What about music?"

"It's pretty much across the board. Um, Dylan, Hendrix, Patsy, Willie. A little Kanye. You know what? I even like that one Miley song." Madeline tried to suppress a laugh and Stefan caught it.

"Easy." He said with a smile.

"I didn't say anything. What about Katherine? Damon mentioned her before to me." Madeline brought up.

"Katherine...She was... the most beautiful girl that I had ever met. She had this perfect olive skin. And she had this laugh. It was ridiculous. I mean, her laugh made you laugh. And she was fun. She knew how to have a good time. But Katherine was also very impatient and entitled and selfish, and, um, impulsive. Then there's Damon. He claims that he was with her first. I don't know. I do know that I did some things that...I'm not proud of. And my biggest regret...is not being able to make it right before she died. I miss her, but...I'm no longer crippled by her loss." Stefan explained.

"Thank you." Was all Madeline said. Stefan scrunched his eyebrows.

"For what?"

"For trusting me enough to actually open up." Madeline said which caused Stefan to smile.

* * *

After a nice dinner they both cleaned up the mess and washed the dishes. "Thank you for the dinner." Madeline said as Stefan was about to leave.

"It was no problem. It was the least I could do for you since you've been so understanding."

"Hey, you know me. Understanding is my middle name. Although, if I go somewhere for 4 days and don't tell you I expect you to be just as understanding." Madeline told him with fake seriousness.

"Now that I can't promise. I would call and call until you finally get tired of hearing your phone ringing and answer." Stefan answered truthfully; however, he knew that if she just disappeared for 4 days with saying anything he would go looking for her.

"Now that isn't very fair." Madeline pouted and Stefan admired how cute she looked when she pouted.

"Well, I'm sorry, but it's the truth." Stefan said playfully.

"Goodnight Stefan." Madeline laughed.

* * *

"No friend discounts. No freebies. No pay ya laters. We are not running a charity here." Caroline tells Madeline sternly.

"Nope. Absolutely not." Madeline repeated standing up straight.

"This is suppose to be a _sexy_ car wash, Madeline." Caroline said pointing out the fact that Madeline was still wearing her clothes over her bathing suit.

"You to Stefan." Caroline said looking at the Salvatore behind Madeline, then walked away.

"Did we just get scolded?" Stefan asked with amusement clear on his face.

"And judged. Yup." Madeline confirmed. She let out a puff of annoyance and started unbuttoning her shirt.

"You're gonna have to take that sweater off." Madeline told Stefan as he was watching her carefully.

"Yeah. Wouldn't want to get Caroline mad in the first 5 minutes." Stefan unzipped his sweater still keeping his eyes on Madeline as she shrugged off her shirt exposing her black bikini top. She kept her waist high demi-shorts on. Stefan finished taking his sweater off just as Elena came over.

"Hey. Stefan." Elena called. Stefan turned around and saw Elena coming towards them.

"I'm going to start washing a car." Madeline said to Stefan as Elena finally approached.

"Hi Elena." Madeline smiled. "Hi Madeline." Elena looked at Madeline as she walked away from them. She had to keep reminding herself that they were just friends. She was still mad at Stefan for just disappearing, but she figured she might as well forgive him before he starts going to Madeline to talk about their problems. And that was the last thing Elena wanted; to give Stefan another reason to spend more time with Madeline.

* * *

Madeline was washing a car when she heard something. She looked around her, but everybody was doing their own thing. She continued to wash the car and tried to ignore the itchy feeling she was getting that someone was trying to call her.

"Madeline." She heard the feminine hushed voice again. She looked around in distress. _This is weird._ She just decided to ignore everything around her including that little voice inside her head. She didn't realize how good of a job she was doing until someone tapped her back. She swiftly turned around to see it was just Stefan.

"Are you okay? I was calling your name." Stefan asked. Madeline looked around them and couldn't find the person she was looking for.

"Um, yeah. I'm fine." Madeline said taking her lip between her teeth as she continued washing the car that Stefan was now helping with.

"Where's your bracelet?" Stefan noticed that it was no longer hanging around her wrist.

"I left at home so I didn't get it wet." Madeline told him. Stefan reminded himself that Damon was locked up so he couldn't get to Madeline to compel her.

"Madeline." The voice said again. Madeline turned around to see who was talking to her.

"You need to help him." The voice said. Stefan watched Madeline turn around out of nowhere and was suddenly very concerned.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked regained Madeline's attention.

"Uh.. I'll be right back. I have to go do...something." Was all Madeline said before scurrying off to who knows where. Stefan watched as Madeline went into the school.

* * *

Madeline was unconsciously walking out of the school and somehow ended up outside the Salvatore Boarding House. She walked in as the voice continued to call her louder than before. She felt she was getting closer. She found herself walking downstairs where she saw Caroline standing outside a cell.

"Caroline?" Madeline caught her attention along with whoever was in the cell.

"Madeline? What are you doing here?" Caroline asked looking back and forth between her best friend and the person who had been playing with her mind.

"Madeline?" A scratchy voice said from behind the cell. The voice might have been scratchy, but Madeline recognized it immediately. She ran up to cellar and Caroline kindly stepped out of the way.

"Oh, my god. Damon, what are you doing in here?" Madeline asked in shock. _Who would put him in a cell like this? This isn't norma_ l.

"Madeline, you need to leave. _Now."_ Damon growled. He had no idea why she was here, but he was beyond hungry and if he needed to scare her to make sure she wasn't the one who got hurt, he would.

Madeline took a step back as Caroline went back in front of the door so Damon could see her face.

"Open the door, Caroline." Damon said as his eyes dilated. Caroline unwillingly unlocked the door and Zach ran in.

"What are you doing?!" Zach ran to the door and struggled to to keep it shut. "Go! Get out of here!" Zach yelled. Caroline didn't have to be told twice as she ran as fast as she could out of there. Madeline lingered and when Zach noticed she hadn't left he yelled, "Leave or he _will_ hurt you!"

Madeline finally listened as she ran up the stairs. Damon finally got the door open as Zach fell to the ground. Damon didn't waste any time to snap Zach's neck and race out of there. Unfortunately, Madeline didn't get out of there fast enough because before she knew Damon was standing right in front of her and he looked exactly the way he looked in her dream. She stumbled back and looked at him. Damon looked at her intently and listened to her heart beat.

She wasn't afraid. She knew that and he knew that. He walked closer to her and her heart stayed at a steady pace. She wasn't phased by what she saw in front of her.

"You're not afraid of me?" Damon asked finally changing his face back to normal. "No." Madeline replied.

"Interesting. Do you know what I am?" Damon asked getting closer.

"I didn't before, but I think I have a pretty good idea now. Is Stefan like you too?" Madeline asked. _Please say no. Please._

"Yes." Damon said studying her features. "Okay," Madeline said as she took this information, "I'm going to leave." Madeline tried to walk past Damon, but he used his arm to block her way.

"I don't think so." Madeline looked at him with annoyed eyes.

"And why not?" Madeline refused to move as she looked straight into Damon's icy blue eyes. Damon looked her with a very serious facial expression.

"Leverage."


	10. Chapter 10-You're Undead to me Part B

Chapter 10:

Madeline had first handedly felt the ability of compulsion as Damon ordered her so follow him into the woods.

"What are we doing here?" Madeline asked as Damon stopped next to a tree that wasn't far from a nearby car parked by the cemetery.

"Well, I haven't fed in 4 days so as expected I'm hungry. And I'm guessing you aren't willing to offer." The thought of somebody drinking her blood made Madeline's stomach churn. I mean what kind of sane person would let somebody do that. Then her mind went straight to Caroline and it clicked. Damon compelled her.

"Again I ask why are we here?" Then all of a sudden Vicki came out of nowhere and headed to the car. Madeline automatically saw where this was going. "Nevermind then."

"Stay here and be quiet." Damon compelled before Madeline tried to stop him. He walked away from the trees and stumbled towards Vicki catching her attention. Madeline saw them exchange a few words before Damon extended his fangs and bit into Vicki. Then Madeline's mind went straight to Matt. Vicki was the only family he really had and Madeline was watching as Damon drained the life out of her. Madeline tried to move towards them, but thanks to Damon's compulsion her legs refused to move.

Then all of sudden Damon disappeared further into the woods; dragging Vicki's now limp body with him. Madeline stood there trying to listen as hard as she could to see if she could hear anything and then all of a sudden she could hear everything. From the screaming to the sound of people's feet running on the ground to the pleas for mercy...everything.

Madeline listened until everything got quiet. Madeline looked around without actually moving her head and the blue eyed devil himself appeared in front of her.

"Follow me and you can speak now if you want." Damon compelled. He turned around and Madeline was forced to continue behind him. However, she hasn't spoken yet, figuring that the best thing to say at the moment was nothing.

They walked until Madeline saw several dead teenage bodies scattered around the cemetery.

"What did you do Damon?" Madeline looked around in disbelief. Everything in her body was trying to get away but she was stuck.

"You can thank your buddy Stefan. If he hadn't locked me up i wouldn't have been so hungry and these kids would still be getting wasted in a cemetery." Damon pointed out. He picked up a bottle of alcohol and started splashing it all over the dead bodies.

Madeline could see how he was planning on getting rid of the bodies so she just looked down at her feet. From the corner of her eye she could see the flames forming on the ground. When she looked up she saw that Damon was calling somebody.

"Hello?" Stefan said on the other line.

"I want my ring back." Madeline heard Damon say.

"Where are you?"

"I'm at the sizzler. I had the buffet. Where's my ring?"

"I don't have it. Where are you? What have you done?"

"No, what have you done? You're the one that locked me in the basement and starved me, so whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you, buddy."

"You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town gonna believe, huh?"

"I know how to cover my tracks, Stefan. Where's my ring?"

"I gave it to Zach to hide. Probably shouldn't have killed him."

"...Ah, you almost got me. Where is it? Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I decided to bring company with me…" Damon walked up Madeline and put the phone up to her mouth. "It's your dearest friend Stefan. Say 'hi'." He compelled.

Madeline looked down at the phone, "Hi Stefan."

" Why do you have Madeline?! Leave her out of this, Damon. I'll get it back, but I need time."

"What, did you FedEx it to Rome?! Where is it? I want my ring, Stefan, or Madeline is my next victim."

"I already want you dead. Don't give me another reason to make it happen." Stefan threatened.

"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart." Damon said equally as aggressive.

"Yeah? Is that gonna be before or after you get your ring back?"

"Just get it." Damon said before hanging up.

Madeline looked at Damon with fear in her eyes at the fact that he said she was his next victim.

"I wouldn't worry if I were you. I wasn't actually serious I just needed to say something to make sure he gets my ring back."

"If you weren't serious can I go home?" Madeline asked hopefully. Damon took a look at the mess he made and that he now had to clean up.

"Yeah I'll just come back and finish cleaning this up." He walked closer to Madeline and looked into her eyes ready to compel. "You can walk freely now." Damon was about to turn around, but then got an idea. So he used his unnatural sped to pick Madeline up and speed to her house.

By the time they got there Madeline was beyond dizzy. Damon put her on her feet, but held onto her arms incase she was still to dizzy.

"A heads up would've been nice." Madeline said trying to see straight.

"I could of, but this way was so much more fun." Damon smirked.

"Alright I think I'm good now." Madeline said as Damon let go of her arms.

"I'm going to go inside and try to forget everything that happened tonight, so wish me luck." Madeline said sarcastically. She was about to turn around but that said,"And don't ever use your compulsion or supernatural speed on me again." She said sternly.

"I can only promise one of those things." Damon said. Madeline rolled her eyes before opening her door and closing it behind her.

Madeline stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in her robe. Today was everything she hadn't expected. Damon and Stefan were vampires. Does that even make sense? Did today even make sense? No, it didn't. But just because something doesn't make sense doesn't mean it's not real. And that was the reality. Today was real. And it would still be real tomorrow.

Madeline grabbed her phone and saw all the missed calls she got from Stefan. There were at least 10, and 8 messages that asked if she was okay and asking where she was. She decided to call him back. After 2 rings he picked up.

"Madeline? Are you okay? Are you home?" Stefan automatically started springing a bunch of questions at her.

"Easy on the questions. I'm safe at home." Madeline assured.

"I'm so sorry Damon got you involved." Stefan apologized.

"Damon didn't get me involved. You did. The moment you came up to me and we became friends you knew what you were and you still decided to get closer to me. You must have know that I would have eventually found out, but you didn't care. So now I'm stuck in this position where I have to decide whether or not I want to be apart of this. And it's a damn hard decision. If I stop talking to you and Damon I lose two of my closest friends and if I don't...I don't know what happens after that. All I know is I want you here as my friend to help me deal with this." Madeline finishes. She was relieved to finally express herself and say what she felt.

So Stefan's next words brung her happiness. "I'm on my way."

Madeline put down her phone and got dressed in her comfortable clothes; which happened to be a baggy grey sweater and black leggings. Just as she finished pulling her sweater over her head there was a knock on her window. She turned around and saw Stefan standing outside of it. She opened the window and waited for him to step inside. He using his speed to get through the window and stand directly in front of Madeline. Madeline looked up at him for a second before wrapping her arms around his torso. He immediately flung his arms around her and inhaled her scent.

They stayed like this for a while before Stefan finally pulled away and said, " I'm sorry. You were right. I did pull you into this, but it's only because once I met you I couldn't stop myself from wanting to know you even more. I know that makes me selfish and it definitely isn't an excuse, but it's the truth." Madeline stopped him from saying anything else by capturing his lips with hers for a kiss. It was soft and full of emotion. Something both of them were secretly craving.

Madeline pulled back and was stunned at what she just did. "I'm sorry. I know you're with Elena. I shouldn't have…" Stefan grabbed her face and smashed his lips onto hers. It didn't take long for her to respond and before they knew it they were having a full on make-out session. They forgot about everything around them and all the problems that await for them tomorrow. All that mattered was both of them in that moment.

This time Stefan was the one to break the kiss. "I've been wanting to do that for a long time." Stefan admitted.

"Then why didn't you?" Madeline asked. Life would have been so much easier if this had happened a while ago.

"I didn't want to ruin our friendship." Stefan said. He always was aware of his feelings for Madeline, but he never had expected her to return them. Now that he knows she feels the same way he was the excited to say the least.

"That's exactly why I think we should put this on hold. You know, wait until I figure out this whole vampire thing so it doesn't complicate things and be the reason our friendship is over." Madeline told Stefan. Stefan wasn't happy about this, but he understood why it was best if they did that.

"Okay, I can handle that." Stefan agreed.

"Good. I'm tired so I'm going to lay down." Madeline stated as she walked to her bed. She saw that Stefan was about to walk towards the window so she said, "Stay."

He looked over at her and nodded with soft smile. He walked over to the bed and they both got under the covers. Madeline laid her head on his chest while he played with her hair.

They stayed silent the rest of the night and just took this time to enjoy each other's company.

A/N: I'm sorry about how short this chapter is ): I just wanted to get an update out there for you guys since I haven't updated lately. I still hoped you enjoyed. And those of you that are a DamonMadeline fan; don't you worry there will be plenty of them coming later on in this story. I still don't know who endgame is yet, and I'm keeping my options open. (;


	11. Author's Note

Sorry this isn't an update, but I just wanted to let you guys know I finally started a poll to figure out who Madeline should be involved with. You should check it out.

I also wanted to thank you guys so much for the favorites, follows, and reviews. They mean so much to me and help motivate me to continue this story.

I wanted to apologize for taking so long to post a new chapter, but luckily a new one is being uploaded today.

Thank for the love 3


	12. Chapter 11-Lost Girls

Elena had offered to listen to Stefan explain what he is, so they are sitting in the Grill opposite of each other. However, before he could get straight to the point, he had to clear something up between the two of them.

"Before I answer any questions you have, I need to clear something up. After everything that happens today I want us to stay friends." Elena looked confused for a second before Stefan elaborated, "Nothing more. Nothing less."

"What do you mean?" Elena asked. _**Did he not want to be my boyfriend anymore?**_

"I don't think that we should continue being together anymore," Stefan said bluntly. He didn't want to be too harsh, but he had to make sure that everything was ended with Elena if he ever wanted anything to happen between he and Madeline.

Elena shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was definitely not expecting him to be the one to end things with her. Not only that, but he also didn't show any remorse. She awkwardly cleared her throat and just asked the first question she had about vampires to change the subject.

"You said you would explain everything. That's why I asked you to meet me here. When you Google 'vampire' you get a world of fiction. What's the reality?"

"I can tell you whatever you want to know," Stefan said, placing his hands on the table.

"I know you eat garlic," Elena pointed out, since a lot of fairy tales and stories noted that vampires are repelled by garlic.

"Yes," Stefan confirmed.

"And, somehow, sunlight's not an issue?" Before Stefan had a chance to answer, a waitress came over with drinks.

"Hi, here are your drinks," she said, before setting down the drinks. Stefan offered her a kind smile while Elena said, "Thank you."

As soon as the waitress left, Stefan held up his hand to show his ring.

"We have rings that protect us."

"Crucifixes?" Elena asked, simply trying to get each and every-one of her questions answered quickly; thankfully Stefan was complying.

"Decorative."

"Holy water?"

"Drinkable."

"Mirrors?"

"Myth."

"You said you don't kill to survive."

"Animal blood keeps me alive, but not as strong as Damon. He can be very powerful."

"And yet, you let him get involved with Caroline?" Elena judged.

"Forcing Damon not to do something is much more dangerous, believe me," Stefan tried to justify his actions.

"He was hurting her!" Elena exclaimed, but tried to keep her voice down so she wouldn't draw attention to herself.

"He was feeding on her. He was able to take away her memories of being bitten using a form of mind compulsion. She never knew what was happening to her. If he wanted to kill her, he would have." Stefan tried to get her to see it the way he did, but of course that didn't work.

"Is that supposed to make it okay?"

"No, none of this is okay, Elena. I know that," Stefan told her.

"Are there any others, aside from you and Damon?"

"Not in Mystic Falls; not anymore."

"Not anymore?"

"There was a time when this town was...very much aware of vampires, and it didn't end well for anybody. That's why it's important that you don't tell anyone."

"I can't promise that," Elena said stubbornly.

"Elena...give me today. I will answer any questions that you have, and when it's over, you can decide for yourself what you want to do with what you know. It'll be your choice."

* * *

Madeline woke up fairly late, and surprisingly by herself. She pushed herself out of bed and a piece of paper on her nightstand caught her attention.

' _Had to leave to make sure Elena didn't tell anyone what I am._

 _Didn't want to wake you. Text me when you wake up.'_

As Madeline read the note, she couldn't help but let a smile stretch across her face. She quickly grabbed her phone and shot him a text saying that she just woke up and saw his note. She set her phone back down and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face.

She had to be at work soon, so when she got out of the bathroom, she started digging through her closet for something to wear. She decided she was just going to dress in something comfortable so she grabbed her adidas pants and a plain white t-shirt. She straightened her hair and let it fall over her back.

Just as she was about to leave, her phone started to ring. She saw it was Stefan and answered it.

"Hey," Madeline said first.

"Hi. I just left the Grill with Elena to go get Damon's rings," Stefan said.

"Okay, I'm just heading to the Grill to start work," Madeline said, as she grabbed her glasses and put them on her face.

"By the time you're done, I should be back. You should stop at Elena's house after work. I'll be there," Stefan suggested.

"Are you just saying that because you think I'm going to go and try to talk to Damon?" Madeline queried.

"I know you, Madeline. I know that you are going to want to go and see if he is okay, even though you know he is dangerous to be around, especially since you are human," Stefan explained.

"He won't hurt me, Stefan."

"You don't know that. Just please listen to me." Stefan pleaded.

"Fine. I'll see you later." Madeline hung up before anything else was said.

She rushed out of her room and down the stairs, only to be stopped by her mother.

"Hi mom," Madeline said standing in front of her.

"Hi honey. I just want to let you know that the day after the Halloween party you need to come with us to a dinner. It involves your father's work," Mrs. Clairwell informed her daughter.

"What time?" Madeline asked.

"6 o'clock." Madeline nodded her head and said okay before walking out the door.

* * *

Work went by quickly and before Madeline knew it she was driving to Elena's house. When she got there, she knocked a few times. It didn't take long until Stefan opened the door with an exasperated expressing on his face.

"Something happened," Stefan said to Madeline before moving out of the doorway to let Madeline enter.

Stefan turned to the others in the house, "Everything is going to be alright. You guys just take her upstairs and make sure you watch her." Elena looked at him worriedly, but he just dismissed it.

Madeline watched, as Matt, Jeremy, and Elena took a distressed Vicki upstairs. _**What's going on here?**_

"What's going on?" Madeline echoed her thoughts once everyone went upstairs. Stefan turned to her with a look of sorrow.

"Is something wrong?" Madeline asked, sensing the tension.

"Vicki is in transition," Stefan told her.

 **Madeline's P.O.V**

What is Stefan even talking about. Transitioning into what?

"What do you mean, 'in transition'?" I acted confused, but that didn't last long, as Stefan gave me a 'you-know-what-im-talking-about' look. You have got to be kidding me. Of course this would happen.

"How did this happen?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Damon must've gotten to her," Stefan decided. Did Damon really do this? Could he? Of course he could. I watched him kill at least 4 people without any remorse whatsoever. If he can do that, I'm sure he could turn Vicki into a vampire.

"She's new. She hasn't completed her transformation yet."

"And how does she do that?" The fear was clear in my voice.

"She has to feed on human blood." Stefan said.

"And I'm guessing if she doesn't finish the transition she won't just go back to being human again, huh?" I said with dying hope.

"She'll die if she does finish the transition," Stefan said with soft eyes. I could tell that he didn't want me to be a part of this and that he didn't think I was ready to handle all of this. I had to prove him wrong. This world of his might be a messed up one, and one that would most likely make me qualified for crazy, but I can't just turn my back and pretend it doesn't exist. Even if I wanted to.

"How long does she have?" I said straightening my posture trying to look more mature than I felt on the inside.

"A few hours maybe," Stefan answered looking up the stairs.

"Is she going to be okay with them upstairs." I really don't want Vicki eating her friends and family.

"Yeah, right now she doesn't know what's going on. A part of her is still human, but slowly, the deeper she gets into the transition, the memories will start to come back, and then she'll know she has to make the choice." Stefan explained. I digested these words slowly and carefully before nodding.

"Hopefully it's the right one." I'm honestly not sure what the right decision would be. The way I see it is; she dies, then everyone will mourn her loss and Matt will be left with nobody. She lives, she could end up killing innocent people. Either way it is a lose, lose. But hopefully, one way or another it will ultimately work out for the best.

All of a sudden I heard Matt and Jeremy calling after Vicki. Stefan and I shared a look before walking out of the kitchen and seeing Matt, Jeremy, and Elena running down the stairs and out the door.

"What happened?" I asked as we all got outside.

"She was fine, and then she just...she just freaked out." Jeremy answered. Poor, Jeremy. It was so clear how much he loved her and he didn't even know what was really going on.

"I'm going to go to look for her. Call me if you find her," Matt said before running off.

I ran my hand through my hair and just thought about how complicated things have gotten.

"I can track her." Stefan said stepping in front of me. I quickly nodded, untangling my hand from my hair. Before he left he leaned towards me and whispered in my ear.

"I'm sorry you got involved in this." He leaned back and looked me in the eyes.

"It's fine. I would've gotten myself in a bigger mess than this sooner or later." I assured with a sincere smile. He returned it before running off.

As soon as I turned around I met eyes with Elena and Jeremy.

"You can stay here until we hear any news." Elena nicely offered. I kindly said thank you before entering the house with the two Gilbert's.

* * *

Jeremy sat up in his room calling Vicki thousands of times, whilst I sat in the kitchen with Elena who made coffee for us.

"You know me and Stefan are over, right?" Elena said out of nowhere. It made me feel a little awkward considering I just kissed him yesterday. Although, I didn't expect Stefan to end things with Elena completely after just one kiss.

"No, I didn't. I haven't had much time to talk to Stefan today. And me and you aren't exactly best friends." I commented taking a sip from my cup.

"I want to change that. I feel like me and you got off on the wrong foot. It was stupid of me to not like you because I felt threatened. I should be confident in my own relationship. So, with that said, now that me and Stefan are officially over, you can have him, if you even like him." Elena giggled. I could tell that she was actually being genuine and I actually appreciated it.

"Thanks, but with all of this vampire stuff going on I'm putting my feelings on hold," I told her truthfully.

"That might be a good idea. We should get to know each other more. You know become 'best friends.'" Elena said with a laugh.

"Okay, sounds good to me."

For a while Elena asked questions about my favorite movie and my celebrity crush, you know thing like that. After that, we sat down on the couch and watched "Law In Order". It was dark now and there was finally a knock on the door. We both got up and saw it was Stefan.

"You're bleeding." I pointed out as I went to touch his shirt.

"No, it's okay. It's okay. I'm okay. I couldn't stop her. I tried." Stefan said with sadness. I scrunch my eyebrows and Elena said, "What does that mean?"

"We lost her and she fed." He elaborated.

"Oh my god." I said. I knew there was a heck of a good chance Vicki wouldn't want to to die, but now that it's real and she is actually a vampire it's finally sinking in. Stefan probably saw the wheels spinning in my head because a grabbed my shoulders and looked me dead in the eye.

"I'll take care of it. I'll find her, and I will show her that she can live like I do. I will make sure that she does not hurt anybody, Madeline. I promise you." I stepped out of his grasp and next to Elena.

"What is she suppose to tell her brother?" I said gesturing to Elena. "Oh yeah sorry, but you can't see the love of your life because Stefan's psychotic brother turned her into a vampire and she might want to kill you if you get to close." I said sarcastically. "And what about Matt, huh? Vicki was the only family he had left and now he will probably never know what is happening to her and be kept in the dark." I panicked starting to pace back and forth.

"We'll come up with a story." Stefan said as he watched me pace with concern.

"You mean we'll come up with a lie." Elena butted in.

"I'm sorry." Stefan told her as I sat on the bench that took place on the bench.

"I gave you today just like you asked. I understand that you would never do anything to hurt me or my family. And I'll keep your secret, but I can't deal with all of this. It's to much." Elena said before walking back into the house. I put my head in my hands and tried not to think of the worst.

I felt Stefan sit next to me and it was just silent. It was a kind of silence that you wanted to break. It was a comfortable one. One where neither of us didn't know what to say so we just sat there and enjoyed each other's company.


	13. Chapter 12-Haunted Part A

_Chapter 12:_

Madeline spent the night at Elena's and it honestly wasn't that bad. Once Stefan decided to go find Vicki with Damon, he gave Madeline a kiss on the forehead and left.

Elena had been far too upset to even enter the "Stefan Subject" so they sat it the living room and watched, "The Notebook." After that Jenna came home and didn't care much that Madeline was staying over so she shrugged it off and went to bed.

Around 12 o'clock Elena and Madeline decided to call it a night and head to sleep. Madeline just woke up and she decided that she was going to go wash her face before heading to Stefan's house.

As she walked in she saw that Elena's little brother, Jeremy, was finishing brushing his teeth.

"Sorry I should have knocked." Madeline immediately apologized. She was about to leave with embarrassment clear in her face when he stopped her.

"It's cool I'm done." He said with a friendly smile. Madeline finally let the embarrassed look fade from her face as it was replaced with a soft smile.

"You're Madeline, right? I've seen you around school. I didn't know you and my sister were friends." Jeremy said trying to start conversation.

"It just happened recently, so I'm not very surprised you didn't know." Madeline pointed out. Jeremy gave her a 'oh-you're-probably-right' look.

"Are you going somewhere? I don't think anybody else is up right now." Jeremy asked.

Madeline took a small wash cloth and started to soak it in water from the sink.

"I have to go talk Stefan, so I figured I should do it early." Madeline said as she took the wet wash-cloth and rubbed it on her face over her eyes and mouth.

"If he is even awake right now." Jeremy added.

"How about you? Why are you up so early?" Madeline turned the conversation away from herself.

"I'm going to head down to the police station. They're organizing a search party for Vicki." Madeline genially felt bad for Jeremy. His feelings for Vicki are clear and it is going to hurt him so much to learn that he won't be able to find her.

"I don't blame you for wanting to go look for her as soon as you can, but don't you think your sister would want you to go to school." She asked.

"There is no way I'm just going to just stay out of this. She is just going to have to suck it up."

Madeline dried off her face and turn to face Jeremy.

"I really hope you find her." She said before walking past him out of the bathroom. As she walked out she place a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it in a comforting way.

* * *

"I don't understand why I have to stay cooped up here. Why can't I just go home?" Vicki whined.

Madeline had already arrived at the Boarding House and now she sitting at a table next to Stefan. Vicki is sitting on the other side of him. Damon on the other hand was sitting in a chair farther away from the trio.

Madeline felt a little uncomfortable around Vicki considering the fact that she is a new vampire that has heightened emotions and no self control whatsoever. However, she couldn't help but feel pity for the girl. She was forced to chose this complicated life style because the person right across the room forced it upon her.

"Because you're changing, Vicki, and it's not something you wanna do alone." Stefan told the young vampire.

One of the things Madeline liked about Stefan was that he always tried to help people. He could have just as well left Vicki by herself to mess up and get exposed, but he didn't. And of course that is a quality that people expect others to have, but at this point Madeline is happy for anything she can get.

Damon, on the other side of the room,is completely ignoring the conversation happening between Stefan and Vicki. Instead he is watching Madeline. _**'How can she stand to be in the same room with all of us after finding out the truth?'**_

Madeline didn't want to judge both Stefan and Damon because of what they are because at the end of the day they are still the same people who she became friends with. She didn't want to be friends with them because she thought they were "normal" or "ordinary." She became friends with them because she knew there was more to them; something mysterious.

"There's nothin' about that Logan guy I killed in here. Not a word. Someone's covering it up." Damon said as he looked through some papers.

"What is that?" Vicki asked noticing a weird small machine that resembles a compass.

"This is a very special, very old compass. What was Logan Fell doing with it? Aren't you curious?" Damon said suspiciously.

"Well, if you're so worried that somebody's onto you, why don't you just leave town, Damon?" Stefan suggested bitterly.

"Or," Madeline steps in, " Damon could stay and help us make sure nobody is onto him because if he just leaves then they will still be looking for the person responsible not knowing he isn't in town anymore. Do you really think that makes not only you, Stefan, but also Vicki any safer?" Stefan lets what Madeline said sink in as Damon says, "Madeline's right. We should all be worried."

"Hey, um, I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" Vicki says awkwardly into the tension.

"Here." Stefan says handing her a cup as he keeps an eye on Madeline.

"What is this." She asked as she looked in the cup filled with red liquid.

"It's what your craving." Stefan tells her.

Damon let out sort of a snort. "Heh. Don't lie to the girl. It's so not what you're craving, but it'll do in a pinch, right, Stef?"

Madeline watched between the two brothers and decided to say something, "What is it?"

"Yeah, what is it? Is it a skunk? Saint Bernard? Bambi?" Damon taunted.

"It's what can keep from hurting others." Stefan says towards Madeline, but the second part was meant for Vicki, "Go on. Try it."

Madeline watches as Vicki brings the cup to her mouth and sips on the liquid with caution. As soon as the animal blood hit her tongue the look of distaste settled on her face.

"She's new. She needs people blood. She can't sustain on that stuff." Damon sounded like he almost enjoyed the fact that Vicki was struggling to control herself and that Stefan was struggling to control her.

"Yeah why can't I have people blood?" Vicki whined some more.

"Yeah." Damon said in a sing-song voice.

"Because it's wrong to pray on innocent people, Vicki." Stefan couldn't help but stress how important that is.

"You don't have to kill to feed. Just find someone really tasty and then erase their memory after wards. It's so easy." Damon encouraged. Madeline choose to stay quiet and listen to where this was going.

"No, no, no. There's no guarantee that you can control yourself, okay? It takes years to learn that. You could easily kill somebody, and then you have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which, if I haven't made clear, is eternity." Stefan internally pleads that Vicki listens to him instead of his brother for Madeline's sake.

Stefan looked at Madeline and he could once again see the wheels turning in her head. All he wanted to do was tell her everything was going to turn up alright and nobody would get hurt, but he can't promise something and give her false hope because he wasn't sure how this was going to turn out.

"Don't listen to him. He walks on a moral plane way out of our eye line. I say snatch, eat, erase." Damon says as he stands up.

"Hey, look at me. We choose our own path. Our values and our actions, they define who we are." Stefan tells Vicki, who would much rather do things Damon's way.

"Okay, count deepak. I'm out of here." Damon makes his way out of the room and as he passes Madeline he sends her a discrete wink.

Madeline stands up and turns to Stefan, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom." Stefan was going to say something but she was already out of the room.

Madeline wondered upstairs for a while until she finally found a bathroom. It had a stand up shower with a glass door, a towel hook right next to it, and a nice clean sink with a bar of soup on the counter next to the sink. She stood right in front of the mirror and analized her figure. She wore a navy blue shirt with light blue ripped jeans that looked more like a whitish color than a blue. Her hair was in a high ponytail with a few dangling pieces left out in front of her face. And lastly her black framed glasses that framed her face perfectly.

She looked fine, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't ready for all of this vampire stuff. She thought she was, but now that it finally sunk in she wasn't sure anymore. She stayed in the bathroom for about 30 minutes, give or take, thinking about the situation.

A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts. She opened the door and of course standing on the other side of it was a worried Stefan.

"How did you know I was in this bathroom? You have like 500 in this house." Madeline questioned.

"I have heightened hearing so heard you coming into this bathroom. You've been in here for awhile so I thought I'd come up" He explained.

' _ **Great, someone who can hear my every move. 'Cause that's not weird.'**_ Madeline thought.

"Oh I forgot about your heightened senses." Madeline said avoiding Stefan's eye contact. He noticed what she was doing and took a step closer to her.

"Hey are you okay? I know that this is a lot to deal with and I really do appreciate you sticking with me through this." Madeline could tell he was being sincere about it.

"I know you do. I just…" Madeline stopped mid-sentence and remembered what she told herself when she found out Vicki was transitioning into a vampire. She can't have people thinking she can't handle this and that she needed to be protected. She didn't want to be that girl.

"I just need some aspirin. I have this killer headache." Madeline nervously bit her lip the same way she does every time she lies, but thankfully Stefan didn't take notice it. He gave her smile and made his way to a shelf on the wall full of hand towels, soaps, and apparently aspirin too.

"Here you go." He said handing her two small pills, "I'm going to go get Vicki some more animal blood. Elena is downstairs with Vicki. I'll be back soon." He took Madeline's head in his hands and planted a small kiss on her forehead before exiting the bathroom.

Madeline took a moment to pull herself together then confidently walked out of the bathroom. As she came closer to the living room she heard Vicki muttering things to somebody. So she cautiously walked closer to where the sound was coming from and what she saw took her completely by surprise.

Vicki was choking Elena up against the wall. Unfortunately, Madeline did the only thing she could think of in that moment; she ran as fast as she could towards Vicki and shoved her away from Elena. Yup, probably not the smartest idea.

Elena fell to the ground trying to catch her and Vicki was now staring a Madeline like she was a bull and Madeline was wearing red. She used her new vampire speed to run towards Madeline and choke her like she was doing to Elena except this time with 5x more strength and hatred.

"Oh look who it is. Little miss perfect. You've got the perfect parents, the perfect house, you even got two vampires wrapped around your finger. You involve yourself into trouble and expect people to feel bad. Well I don't. Every time I look at you I see a spoiled little brat," Vicki taunted as she tightened her grip and Madeline's face was turning an unhealthy color of red from the lack of oxygen, "who gets what she wants. I never get what I want. I can't even be around Jeremy because people are afraid I'll tear his neck out." Before she could get another sentence out she was pulled away and Madeline was free of the death grip that would leave bruises for sure. Tears swelled in her eyes as she fell to the ground to catch her breath. _**'Is this what people really think of me? Do the envy me because they think I have a perfect life?'**_

She has never experienced anything like that before and she didn't know how to react to it. She didn't even notice that it was Damon who pulled Vicki away. He was walking into the Boarding House after leaving the Grill, where he was listening in on Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood's conversation, and as soon as he walked in he heard Elena screaming for Vicki to let someone go. Damon immediately remembered that Madeline was in the house too, so he figured she was the one Vicki was hurting.

So he sped to where the noise was coming from and he witnessed Vicki choking Madeline up against the wall and Madeline was pretty much as red as a tomatoes begging for air. He found himself throwing Vicki off of Madeline and bending down to see if she was okay.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked as he helped her get on her feet. Madeline looked at him and remembered the pain in her neck from Vicki's grip.

"My neck hurts." She said in a strained voice. Damon looked down at her neck and saw Vicki's hand print that was already starting to bruise. Madeline saw Damon's jaw clench and unclench as he examined her neck.

"There is going to be bruising. Do you want ice?" Damon asked as he studied her face carefully. Madeline no longer even wanted to be in this house anymore she she politely shook her head.

"No it's um, fine. I think I'm just going to head home." Madeline gave Damon a small smile which he unusually returned. She quickly left the house and headed straight home.

As soon as the front door closed Damon sent a glare to Elena. "Why didn't you do anything to help her?"

Elena seemed bewildered that Damon was blaming her for Vicki's actions. "I couldn't have done anything even if I wanted to. I did what I could." Elena defended herself, but Damon just scoffed and left the room.

 **A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. I haven't updated in a while and I wanted to give you guys something. I also wanted your opinion on something; should I continue writing this story in 3rd Person or should I start doing it from Madeline's perspective. I want to know which one you would prefer so that I can make this story better for you guys. However, I do hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	14. Chapter 13-Haunted Part B

"She threatened me." Stefan finally came back home to find out Vicki attacked Elena. And Elena is taking it upon herself to express her worry about Vicki not being able to control herself.

"She's on edge. Imagine every sense in your body operating at super speed. I mean, she's uncomfortable in her own skin. And then when you throw in her other issues…" Stefan tried to explain.

"How long before it settles? Hours? Days? Weeks?" Elena asked unhappy with Stefan response.

"There's not a rule book."

"That's not good enough Stefan. Vicki attacked Madeline too." The moment Stefan heard the Madeline was attacked his eyes shot up.

"What?! What happened? Is she okay?" Stefan sprung out questions.

Honestly, Elena was a little jealous that Stefan expressed so much anguish for Madeline and not even half as much when she told him she was attacked. However, she suppressed this feeling and explained to him what happened.

"She saw the Vicki was choking me so she shoved her out of the way and Vicki didn't react very well. She pushed Madeline up against the wall and choked her like she did to me, but she looked at Madeline with so much hatred and envy that I haven't seen her express to anyone before. She had such a strong hold on her that it left bruises around her neck. Thankfully, Damon stepped in and pulled Vicki away."

"Where is Madeline now?" Stefan asked clearly worried about this girl whom he has become extremely fond of.

"Home, I think."

* * *

 **Madeline's P.O.V**

I stepped out of the bathroom in my robe and approached my mirror carefully. As soon as I saw my reflection I noticed how my bruises have darkened and become more distinct. I lightly brought my finger up to my neck but as soon as I made contact with the bruise I flinched from the immediate pain I felt. I moved my hand away from my neck and analyzed the rest of body.

As I looked at my reflection I couldn't help but feel disgusted with myself. I have been lying to people and keeping secrets. I mean, what am I supposed to say when my parents ask why I have a bruise that encircles around my neck.

Shit.

I completely forgot that I have a dinner tomorrow with some people my father works for and he will not be happy to learn that I am going with a giant bruise around my neck. And it's not exactly scarf season.

The point is; how can I expect people to trust me when all I've been doing is lying. Quite frankly I wouldn't trust myself either.

I decided it was time to get ready for the Halloween party and I was just going to go with the costume from last year. I would ditch this, but I think I should go and try to have some fun for once. I went into my closet and grabbed my black, off the shoulder, dress and my red, silk, cape.

Once I threw that on I started working on my hair. I thought the best way to do it was to to curl it into ringlets, so that's what I did. For makeup I did the classic wing eyeliner with a smokey eye. To top it off I added red lipstick. No matter how bad the beginning of today went I am determined to not let it affect me tonight. I will simply act as if it never happened.

Before I left, I grabbed my black combat boots and slipped then on. The best part of the outfit is the the cape covers up most of my bruise.

* * *

 **3rd Person**

Madeline arrived at the party and saw Caroline and Bonnie so she thought it would be nice to hang out with them. They were all walking around talking about the latest gossip around school and normally Madeline hates that kind of stuff, but tonight she didn't care. All she wanted to do was have a good time.

"Cider for the ladies. It's a Lockwood special." Tyler said coming around with a tray of his homemade alcohol drinks.

"Now way. Last year I was hungover till Thanksgiving." Bonnie said with a laugh.

"Lightweight. I am going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with." Caroline smirked at Tyler and he did not fail to return it.

"Sounds like a plan." Tyler 'flirted'. Than his gaze went to Madeline.

"How about you, Clairwell? You up for a drink this year?" Caroline was quick to say something before Madeline could answer.

"Of course not. She doesn't do that kind of stuff."

"Actually, I would love one." Madeline butted in. Tyler sent a smirk, similar to the one he was giving Carline, her way as he handed her a drink. Madeline took the drink and drunk it in one sip.

"Wow. What happened to Clairwell here? You are not the same person I remember." Tyler asked with scrunched eyebrows.

"Cause I'm not." Madeline said giving him a smile. She handed Tyler the empty glass and walked off to a crowd of people. Tyler looked at Bonnie and Caroline and they both shrugged their shoulders at him.

Stefan was looking around for Vicki, whom he lost again, but instead he found Madeline walking into a group of dressed up kids. He wasn't expecting her to show up to this and he would of thought if she did she would have told him.

So he went after her and once he got close enough, he grabbed her arm and turned her around.

"Hey!" She yelled as she was turned around. Once she saw it was Stefan she calmed down.

"Don't do that. You scared me half to death." Madeline told him. Stefan looked at her and couldn't deny how adorable she looked in her red riding hood costume, but he pushed past that thought and remembered how Vicki was still wandering around this place and he didn't want to risk Madeline getting hurt again. Just than he noticed the bruise that was almost completely covered with her costume. He could only imagine how she felt which only made him want her to go home even more.

"Vicki is here and I can't find her. You should go home, so she doesn't hurt you again. Me and Elena are looking for Jeremy to make sure Vicki doesn't hurt him either." Stefan told Madeline. She could see his gaze drop to her bruise every so often.

"If you can't find Jeremy and Vicki there is no doubt in my head that they are together, so I want to help you find him before she hurts him." Madeline told Stefan with determination in her voice.

Stefan was about to argue, but he knew it would get him nowhere. "Okay just stay with me." He grabbed Madeline's hand and leaded them out of the crowd.

Stefan was trying to pick up on Vicki's scent and it lead him out to the buses where he heard Elena yell. Stefan and Madeline ran towards the voices and they saw Vicki throw Elena into a pile of wood, so Stefan let go of Madeline and grabbed Vicki to pin her against the buses.

Madeline ran to go help Elena get up. "Go, get of of here! Go!" Stefan screamed at them as Vicki escaped his grasp.

Madeline went to get Jeremy with Elena following her, but just before she reached him, Vicki came up behind her and sunk her teeth into Madeline's neck. Madeline felt an unbelievable amount of pain and the worst part was that she had no idea how to make it stop. She could couldn't help but let out a soft scream, but all of a sudden the pain lessened and she could no longer feel teeth in her neck.

However, Madeline did hear Jeremy scream Vicki's name repetitively. She turned around and saw that Vicki was laying on the ground with gray veins covering her whole body. Madeline saw Stefan drop the stake and start to hold Jeremy back.

Elena looks down at the dead body and wants to break down, but instead she yelled at Stefan to get Jeremy away from there. Stefan looked at Madeline with a look that said 'please come with me'. Instead Madeline turned around and ran in the other direction.

She needed to get away from everything. This party was suppose to be something normal to do. It's been a while since she has done anything really normal. She ran into a bathroom and locked the door behind her then slowly fell on the floor and started to cry. She wasn't sure if she was crying about how the night went. Or about how Vicki died. Or about the pain in her neck.

She just wanted everything to stop so she could take a break, but instead she was sitting on the bathroom floor sobbing. Maybe that is why she was crying. Because she knows that she can't just take a break. She can't make everything stop.

* * *

When Madeline got home she jumped in the shower immediately and changed into pajamas which tonight happened to be a loose white tank top that had the words 'Sleepy Girl' on them and a pair of pink shorts.

Stefan had been texting and calling Madeline for an hour and she was purposely ignoring him. But then someone she wasn't expecting to call, called. And she answered.

"What do you want Damon?" She answered as she sat on the side of her bed.

"For you to come down stairs and open the door." His hoarse voice said through the phone.

"Wait, what? You're at my house? Why!?" Madeline said as she got up off her bed.

"I want to spend some time with my friend." He said in his usual tone of voice.

"Go home Damon." Madeline rolled her eyes.

"Or maybe I could ring this doorbell. I'm sure somebody else in the house would love to let me in." Damon said sarcastically.

"Okay, okay. Fine. I'm coming down." Madeline said as she hung up the phone and threw it on her bed.

She quietly opened her door and softly made her way down the stairs. Her parents were sleeping and she didn't want them waking up any time soon. So she had so remain as quiet as possible.

Once she got to the door she opened it slowly. "Finally. I was beginning…" Madeline put her hand over Damon's mouth before he could say anything else. Then she put a finger over her mouth indicating that they had to be quiet.

Damon waited until Madeline removed her hand from his mouth to whisper, "So you're sneaking me into your house? I like it."

Madeline simply rolled her eyes and turned around to walk back up the stairs with Damon following behind her. As soon they got in Madeline's room Damon took it upon himself to jump onto Madeline's bed and relax with his hands behind his head.

"What are you doing here Damon?" Madeline said with her hands crossed over her chest.

"Nice pajamas." Damon complimented with a smirk.

"Damon." Madeline said in a warning tone.

"Fine, fine. I've heard you've been ignoring my little bro. I thought you guys were besties. What's that all about?" Damon sat up on the bed and moved over so Madeline could sit next to him.

"Nothing I was just tired and I didn't feel like answering the phone." Madeline brushed off.

"But you answered when I called." Damon told her.

"Because you were in front of my house."

"But you didn't know I was in front of your house when you picked up." He pointed out.

"Fine. Truth?" Madeline gave up on lying and thought she might as well tell the truth, so when Damon nodded his head she went for it.

"With Stefan everything is complicated. Like I don't know what to do or feel when it comes to him. But with you it's straightforward. I know how I feel about you and I'm pretty sure I know how you feel about me. And tonight I needed uncomplicated." Damon wasn't sure about what Madeline had told him. He was content that Madeline hadn't pushed him away like she did Stefan, but he also knew she didn't know how he felt about her. Mostly because he didn't know himself. He wanted so bad to tell her that she didn't have any idea how he felt about her, but he knew that she needed an uncomplicated guy tonight, so that's what he was going to be.

"How do you feel about me?" Damon figured it was a harmless question.

It was Madeline's time to smirk, "I guess you'll just have to wait and find out. But right now I'm going to sleep so you can either leave or be my pillow." Damon answered her by wiggling his eyebrows and at the sight of that Madeline knew he wasn't leaving so she moved over and laid her head on his chest. He moved his arm from behind his head to around her body.

"I compelled Jeremy to forget about what happened to Vicki tonight." Damon whispered.

"Did Elena ask you too?" Madeline asked.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure it was the right choice." Damon voiced what he was thinking.

"It was. That kid has been through enough. Dead girlfriend would have just made things worse for him." Madeline mumbled as exhaustion took over her body.

 **A/N: I wasn't sure about this chapter, but I still hope you guys enjoyed. Please let me know what you think.**


	15. Chapter 14- 162 Candles

_Chapter 14:_

Madeline woke up in the same position she fell asleep in surprisingly. She thought Damon would have gone home in the middle of the night.

"Finally you're awake." Madeline heard Damon say. She picked her head up off of him to look at him.

"You could have just moved me." Madeline told him. She raised herself up off the bed and towards her bathroom.

"I would have but you looked like you were having a good dream. Probably about me." Damon said cockily as he jumped out of bed.

"Doubtedly but you can keep dreaming."Madeline then began to brush her teeth.

"I'm heading over to my place wanna tag along?" Damon asked as Madeline spit in the sink.

"Sure just let me get dressed and I'll meet you outside. But you have to leave out the window so my parents don't see you."

"I wouldn't want it any other way." Damon smirked.

"Just get out Damon." Madeline laughed.

When he left Madeline went into her closet and pulled out a navy green sweater and light blue jeans. She pulled her hair into a messy bun at the top of her head and slid on her black high-top Vans. Before she left she grabbed her phone and she noticed the thousand text messages Stefan left her that pretty much just asked if she was okay and that he was sorry.

She decided not to respond since she was already heading to his house anyways. Therefore, she slipped her phone into her back pocket and made her way out of her room and down the stairs.

 **Madeline's P.O.V**

I was about to walk out the front door when I was stopped by my father's voice. "What the hell is on your neck?!" I turned around immediately to face my father's angry face.

"I-I'm sorry. It was an accident." I know; probably not the best thing to say. I mean you try explaining to your scary father how you got a bruise around your neck.

"We have a dinner with an _extremely_ important person this evening. And you show up with _that_ around your neck! This is unexceptable." I could tell how upset my father was and I didn't want to make it worse.

"I know and it will never happen again. I promise."

"You're damn right it won't. I have done so much to keep you safe. Next time this happens you're out of this house. You want to keep secrets and sneak around, fine! But don't expect there to be no consequences." He noticed I was sneaking around? I thought I was getting pretty good at that. And what type of things has he been keeping me safe from. Maybe I'll find out at today dinner.

"It won't happen again." I just repeated myself. I know my father is exactly the best dad in the world. And I know that he is a little harsh, but he wasn't always like that.

"Be ready at 5." Was all my father said before exiting the room. I took a deep breath before walking out the door. I saw Damon leaning against my car with his phone up to his ear. I guess he heard me walking because he turned around and muttered goodbye to whoever he was on the phone with.

"Sorry I took so long I couldn't find my phone." I lied. I didn't want people knowing about what's been happening in my family. Mostly because, I didn't want to involve them in my family drama which seemed pretty pointless next to my vampire drama.

"It's fine. But I'm driving."

* * *

As soon as Damon and I were inside the Boarding House we bumped into Stefan. To say it was awkward was an understatement.

"Madeline. I tried texting you, but you never answered. Now I know why." Stefan said sending Damon a glare.

"Calm down brother. If you're not careful you're going to get some more of those brooding forehead lines." Damon said snarkily, which by the, no one appreciated. "Well, I'll leave you two to sort out whatever problems you have. You might want to go check out a couples therapist." Damon retorted as he made his way into another room.

"Not helping." I said after him. Once he left Stefan gave me a look that yelled 'are you going to explain', so I did.

"Okay, let me start off by saying that I'm sorry I haven't answered any of your calls or texts. I have had a lot on my mind and I wanted to figure it all out." I thought my apology was going pretty well until Stefan interrupted.

"Don't you think I've noticed that. I know you well enough to tell that you have different things going on in your head. What I didn't know was that you didn't trust me enough to confide in me. But you can tell Damon." I could tell Stefan was feeling a bit jealous and I felt bad for making him feel that way.

"N-no, that's...I mean...Okay that's not fair and you know it. You know me and Damon are friends and me and you...well I don't know what we are, but I do care about you. I just didn't want to burden you with my problems. You were already dealing with Vicki, trying to get Elena to trust you, and then you have Damon to worry about."

"But that stuff doesn't matter to me if you need somebody. Don't you get that. You come before all of that stuff."

"That's the problem. What if something more important happens? You can't be worried about me all the time. I can't interfere with your judgement, Stefan." I told him sternly and honestly.

I could tell Stefan knew I was right because he didn't respond. "Okay so what do you want me to do, Madeline? Stop caring about you? Because if you haven't noticed it's not as easy as it sounds. I mean even when I thought you had a thing with Damon my feelings still never changed."

Okay, this conversation isn't going the way I hoped it would. "I'm not asking you to stop caring. I'm asking for you to decide that when the time comes to realize what's more important." I honestly think that's not to much ask for.

"No." Stefan said simply.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" I asked confused. I didn't exactly ask a yes or no question.

"You're asking me to not choose you over something or someone else and I'm saying no." Unbelievable. Seriously unbelievable. Before I had a chance to say something back a pretty blonde chick came at of nowhere in a towel. Yup, not suspicious at all.

"I'm sorry am I interrupting something?" The towel girl said.

"No you're not. I'm actually on my way out." I say then I turn to Stefan and say, "Tell Damon I left and to text me." Stefan was going to say something probably to explain why there was a girl in his house in a towel, but I didn't give him a chance as I ran out the front door slamming the door behind me.

I ran to my car and jumped in. I wanted to go somewhere where there was any Stefan. So my immediate thought was Caroline. Wait, no. If I go over Caroline's then I'm just going to have to hear about how much she hates Damon. Although, I don't exactly blame her since Damon isn't all innocent when it comes to the Caroline topic. Nothing Damon does is innocent. I don't even think a drunk pothead on Meth would describe Damon as 'innocent'.

But I guess I knew that when I became his friend. Hell, that might even be the reason I still choose for him to be in my life. With him you never know what will happen next. Like one day you could be watching a movie with him and the next he is leaving bite marks all over your best friend. Granted not the best example of why I keep him as a friend, but you get the point right?

Then there's Stefan, who is the complete opposite of Damon. It's honestly mind blowing that they are related. Stefan is consistent. The third day I knew him he was already giving me a vervain bracelet to protect me from vampires getting into my head. (a.k.a Damon) And here we are today where he is more worried about me than his ex-girlfriend who was thrown into a pile of broken wood and was bleeding from the side of her torso and her brother who just lost the girl he loved more than anything. Nothing has changed with Stefan. Even with me finding out who he really was.

So here I am driving aimlessly around town like an idiot because I got into a fight with my best friend whom I also kissed and lets not forget the part where he was having a girl in his house who just happened to be wandering around in nothing but a towel. Great Madeline. Just great.

Snapping me out of my confusing and somewhat depressing thoughts was my phone ringing. Is said it was my mother so I picked up hoping I didn't screw up something else.

"You need to come back home now. Our dinner plans changed and we are meeting with the important person in a half an hour." My mother said stressfully through the phone.

"Okay I'm on my way." I muttered before hanging up. So now I have to rush home and get dressed for something I know absolutely nothing about and impress someone whom I know nothing about. This should be great.

* * *

 **3rd P.O.V**

"Was that one the girlfriend?" Lexi asked Stefan.

"Nope." Stefan answered popping the P as he looked for a shirt in his closet. "She just the girl I like that probably hates me right now."

"Hey, at least you're not pinning over that Katherine look alike. This girl has an entirely new face." Lexi said sarcastically.

Stefan looked over at Lexi with a stern expression on his face. "Not helping. Got it. But come on Stefan. She can't hate you for caring and once you clear up the whole towel thing I'm sure everything will be alright and you guys will be walking on rainbows in no time." Lexi tried to make her best friend feel better as he finally picked out a shirt and threw it on.

"I highly doubt that. We kissed and I still don't even think she sees me as more than a friend. She told me she wants to put her feelings on hold while she tries handling all this new stuff that comes with being apart of my world. But ever since then she has just been pretending to handle it so well." Stefan explained his doubts.

"You got to give it time Stef's. You can't just say, 'oh yeah by the way I'm a vampire' and expect her to act like it isn't the craziest thing anyone has ever told her."

"That's the thing though. I know it's a lot to handle and I've tried to offer her my help and support, but she doesn't seem to want it. I just really care about her." Stefan huffed before plopping himself onto his bed.

Lexi joined him and said, "I can tell that you do and I'm sure she knows too. She might just want to figure things out herself, you know. Hey why don't you invite her the party? I could clear things up."

"Hey you know where Madeline went?" Damon walked in and asked.

"She left." Stefan told his brother sconfully.

"I'm guessing that was you're doing." Damon blamed his brother.

"I'm going to leave you guys to whatever problem you have." Lexi said awkwardly as she left the room.

Stefan stared daggers at Damon. "What were you doing with Madeline? You didn't come home last night." Stefan asked suspiciously.

"I stayed over at Madeline's place last night." Damon proudly boasted.

"What are doing, Damon? You know how I feel about Madeline. Are you trying to ruin that like you've ruined everything else that has made me happy?" Stefan asked in anger as he shot up from his bed.

"Are you sure Madeline feels the same way towards you?" Damon asked trying to mess with his brother.

Stefan was beyond mad. So mad that he brought up the one thing he knew would get Damon upset. "Yeah I'm pretty sure that after you kidnapped her and played with her mind she called me over to her house and she told me how she felt and then we kissed. So yes Damon, I'm sure she feels the same way."

 _Oh boy_ was Stefan right because Damon was boiling. And of course Damon had to make some more comments that would make Stefan equally as angry.

"Oh really because that's not what it looked like yesterday when she told me she didn't want you there because you were to complicated and she didn't know what to feel for you right before she fell asleep on my chest." Stefan was so enraged that he sped up to Damon before punching him straight in the jaw.

"You know what. Do what you want I don't care anymore. Because at the end of the day I'm not the one who manipulates and tortures people for fun. That's you. And Madeline will realize that." Stefan said before storming out.

* * *

 **Madeline's P.O.V**

I finally arrived at this restaurant just outside of Mystic Falls with my parents and it was ridiculously creepy. There were these two guys outside of the restaurant who I am sure were vampires because they compelled my father to tell them his name and why we were there.

When we actually got into the place it was emptied. What kind of restaurant isn't opened at 5 o'clock in the evening? Because that's not suspicious at all.

"Hello I'm guessing you are here to discuss the regardings of Madeline." A guy in a suit came out and asked in a hot accent. "Please have a seat."

We all sat down at a small squared table. My father sat across the hot guy and I sat across from my mother. "You must excuse the last minute changes. Something came up." The suit guy apologized and then turned to me. "I'm guessing you are Madeline."

"Yes." I said softly. This guy was so intimidating it scared me and the fact that he was a vampire didn't help. Since when did my parent know about vampires.

"Well I guess you are pretty special considering that this whole meeting is about you." The suit man said to me. Is it weird that I find him hot even if there's a possibility that he might want kill me.

"Speaking of; have you found a way to keep her hidden from your brother. She has somehow already gotten herself into a mess with vampires. She came home with that around her neck and a bite mark. I thought the witches you sent over when Evelyn died were supposed to make sure anyone who didn't know her then weren't going to want to get to know afterwards." My father asked.

Wait why were they talking about my sister. How is she involved in any of this? And what is this about witches?

"That spell could only last so long. Who are these vampires she has been hanging around with?" What going on? Did my sister know about vampires? Why was there a spell casted on me? And why is this dude so goddamn hot? It's really irritating me.

"The Salvatore Brothers." My mother answered.

"And are they aware of who Madeline's real family are?" Hot guy asked. I really should learn his name to I can stop referring to him as 'hot guy' or 'suit gut'. And hold up. What do they mean "real family"?

"No there is not way they would know. I have had everything carefully hidden and destroyed." My dad assured.

"Okay well what I can do is get one of my witches to come by tonight and while Madeline is sleeping they will cast a spell that will be sure nobody can track her. Other than that it seems everything is fine." The suited man told my parents.

"What do you mean everything seems fine? Do you not see her neck? Can't you compel her to not talk to those vampires? Or make her forget that vampires exist?" My mother pleaded.

"That is to risky. Don't you think her new vampire friends would notice if Madeline just forgot they were vampires out of the blue? They would get suspicious and go looking for answers and I plan on staying discret for a while longer. It was just a matter of time she found out the existence of everything that was kept from her. It was a bit inevitable. She is tied to it whether you like it or not."

Now is the time I step up and say something. I spring out of my chair and say, "Okay this is all crazy. What are you people talking about? Nobody is putting a spell on me in my sleep. Don't you think that is a little creepy and stalker-ish at all. And what do you mean my real family? Can somebody please explain to me what you guys are talking about!"

Instead of anybody answering me the suit guy who I'm finding less hot by the second says, "You guys can wait outside while I compel away her memories of this whole conversation." And like dogs, my parents listen.

"Over my dead body are you going to compel me!" I say once my parents leave. Suit guy just walks closer to me. Every step he takes towards me I take away from him. I'm wearing a white shirt with light blue jeans For shoes; knee high, light brown, heeled, boots that tie at the back and my hair is straightened. Because I am short in general the boots only add a couple inches so the suit guy is pretty much hovering over me.

"Don't you think I have a right to know about this stuff?! You don't get to choose what I get to know about myself and what I don't! That isn't your place!" I yelled as he backed me into a wall.

"You're right you do have a right to know about this, but I don't trust you enough to believe you'll keep it to yourself." He finally corners me into a wall and me being me I spazzed out on him. I started hitting him on the chest as hard as I can and trying to push him away, but nothing worked. Eventually, he grabbed both my hand to stop me from hitting him and I finally gave up.

He saw my bracelet and I guess he noticed it had vervain in it, so he removed it from my wrist. I realized that there was nothing I could do from stopping him from compelling me other than beg.

"Please, don't do this. I want to know this stuff about myself. You don't understand how my life has been; feeling like I don't belong, like I'm out of place. I can't do things that normal kids do. I have to _constantly_ make decisions that don't make me happy. Because I'm afraid that if I do something that someone I care about doesn't like they will walk away from me. Believe it or not but not a lot of people have showed they care since my sister died so I'm not exactly willing to lose more people than I've got. That isn't a normal feeling a kid should have. You think I _wanted_ to get into the vampire stuff when I first found out about it. You think I _wanted_ to get choked by a vampire and then bitten by one and still have to make sure _everyone else_ is alright other than myself. I feel like if I finally know who I actually am that I won't feel that way anymore.I feel like things will start to change for me." Tears grew in my eyes. "Please don't make me continue feeling that way." My voice cracked towards the end, because I realized that it didn't matter what I said. I could see in his eyes that he was going to do it anyways no matter how bad he felt.

"You won't always feel that way. Eventually you will find out everything. Just not now. You aren't going to remember anything that you heard today. You are going to go home and if anybody asks; you left to go see some family outside of town...And Madeline...You aren't going to feel like you don't belong anymore. You are going to take control of every opportunity you have and never be afraid of making hard decisions that others might not agree with. And you aren't going to be afraid of people leaving because you know that if they leave they weren't really meant to stay."

* * *

 **3rd P.O.V**

Stefan and Lexi were playing pool and every 5 minutes Stefan stopped to check his phone.

"Maybe Damon was just saying that stuff to mess with you. You know how he is." Lexi said trying to make him feel better.

"I know. That's why I texted her an hour ago asking if she could come here so we can talk." Stefan told Lexi as he shoved his phone in his pant pocket.

"By any chance is that her?" Lexi asked cautiously staring at Madeline walking into the Grill with a sort of confidence that she never had before.

"I think so…" Stefan says wearily.

"I'll go talk to her." Lexi offers.

"Don't scare her." Stefan warns.

"I'm not capable of scaring anyone, Stefan." Lexi says deviously. And then sends Stefan a smile that shows she's joking.

Lexi walked up to Madeline. "Hey I love that shirt." Madeline complimented.

"Uh, thanks." Lexi said not expecting that to be the first thing Madeline said to her.

"Oh wait, I remember you. I don't know your name so the only thing I can think of calling you is towel girl, but I doubt that's the polite thing to do." Madeline said casually.

"It's Lexi. And it's okay I've been called much worse. Actually I'm here to clear up any misunderstandings. There is nothing going on between me and Stefan. We have been friends for a really long time." Lexi explains.

"So I'm guessing you are like Stefan." Madeline figured out.

"Yeah I came down to Mystic Falls to celebrate his birthday. So sorry if it looked like anything else." Lexi apologized.

"Wait it's Stefan's birthday? Great now I feel bad for arguing with him."

"Oh it's really no problem. You should actually go talk to him and I will go get us three some shots." Lexi actually thought her and this girl could become friends.

"Great." Madeline said with a genuine smile.

"Great. You know this talk went a lot better than it did with that Elena girl." Lexi admitted.

"I guess she just isn't as understanding." Madeline shrugged before going to talk to Stefan. He saw her coming her way, so he decided to meet her half way.

"Hey." Stefan said first.

"I'm sorry for freaking out on you earlier. I wasn't considering your feelings when I should have." She apologized quickly.

"It's alright. Um...are you okay?" Stefan asked. He wasn't familiar with this side of Madeline and he wanted to know what caused it.

Madeline scrunched her eyebrows. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know you just seem different."

"There has been something I've wanted to talk to you about." Stefan gave her a look that told her to continue. "I like you, Stefan. I really do. I didn't do anything about it after our kiss because I was scared that if you realized I was struggling to handle with the vampire news; you would want outs." Stefan stopped Madeline from saying anything else by grabbing her face and smashing their lips together. It took a second for Madeline to realize what was happening and once she did she kissed Stefan back with just as much passion as he did.

Stefan was the one to pull away and he looked Madeline deep in her eyes and said, "I don't want outs. If you need help dealing help with everything I'm here. I want you to come to me." For once since Madeline has know Stefan, she felt legitimate feelings that she was sure of.

However, the one bad thing that came out of that whole moment was that Damon witnessed the whole thing and he was pissed.

Lexi walked back up to Stefan and Madeline with 3 shots in her hands. Suddenly, Madeline used the back of her hand to slap Stefan's chest.

"Ow. What did I do?" Stefan said holding a hand to the place she hit.

"Oh come on. That didn't even hurt. And that was for not telling me it was your birthday." Madeline explained herself.

"Looks like you two are alright now." Lexi comments with a smirk. She gives Stefan and Madeline their shots and they all go and play pool. They were having fun and enjoying themselves when Madeline excused herself to get another drink.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked her as she sat in one of the seats.

"A Doctor Pepper, please." Madeline asked.

"On me." A voice said from behind her. She turned around to see an expressionless Damon.

"Oh hi Damon. Thanks." Madeline thanked. The bartender handed Madeline a bottle of the soda she asked for and Damon gave him the cash.

"So you and Stefan, huh?" Damon tried to sound casual, but Madeline could tell something was wrong.

"Aww someone sounds jealous." Lexi interrupted.

"Why would I be jealous?" Damon said sarcastically and Lexi replied with a just as sarcastic eye roll.

"Whatever. Why are you really here in Mystic Falls?" Lexi asked suspiciously.

"Have you tried The Brittle. It wins award." Damon said changing the subject.

"Cut the crap."

"Okay, I have a diabolical master plan." Damon admits.

"What is it?" Lexi asks hoping Damon would actually tell her.

"You know what, I would like to know too." Madeline jumped in suddenly interested.

"Well if I told you then it wouldn't be diabolical, now would it?" Damon teased looking pointedly at Madeline.

Then Sheriff Forbes and a distressed girl walked into the Grill and the distressed girl points at Lexi and two police officers come over. Before Madeline and Lexi knew what was going on they inject Lexi with vervain and carry her off.

"Wait what's going on?!" Madeline asked as she got out of her seat. Unfortunately, they ignored her, so she turned to Damon and looked at him for an explanation. But any hope she had for Damon disappeared because guilt was written all over his face.

She threw her bottle at his chest and gave him a look that he never imagined her giving him.

"You are really unbelievable." Madeline snarled before running through the back exit. Once she got outside she ran straight to front, but a pair of hand stopped her. She turned around and saw it was Stefan. The immediate thought that went through her head was why he wasn't doing anything to help Lexi, but than she turned her head and she saw Lexi with a stake through her chest and she was beginning to desiccate. The worst part was that on the other side of the stake was Damon.

* * *

 **Madeline's P.O.V**

I honestly can't believe that Damon would do that to Stefan. He knew how much Lexi meant to Stefan and he just killed her like that with no remorse. But right now I can't focus on that. I have to focus on not letting Stefan kill his brother no matter how much I hate him right now.

"Stefan! Stefan stop for a second and think about what you're doing!" I yelled as I chased after him. Finally he stopped and turned around to face me.

"He killed her! He killed Zach; he killed Tanner; he turned Vicki; I have to kill him!" Stefan said out of anger and disbelief.

"No, you don't _have_ to do anything Stefan!" I yelled at him.

"Why are you trying to save him?! Madeline he's never gonna change! Don't you see that?! He's never gonna change!" Stefan yelled at me louder as he got closer. I pushed away the startled part of me because I knew it was just because he is hurt.

"If you kill him that makes you no better than he is! You are better than that Stefan! And you have no idea what killing your own brother will do to you! I'm trying to protect _you_!" I yelp.

"Everywhere I've been, pain and death follow; Damon follows me. No more." Stefan said with determination.

"Stefan stop! Think about what you're doing, _please._ I want you to talk to me like you want me to talk to you. Please Stefan." I begged.

"No. Maybe you were right before when you avoided me. You should keep your distance." Stefan told me hurtfully before walking away and this time I let him.

 **A/N: I honestly think I've had the most fun writing this chapter compared to any other chapter. I know a lot of people aren't going to be happy I put Stefan and Madeline together, but it was EXTREMELY important to the plot for this story. But don't worry this won't mean Damon is completely out of the picture ;) If you have any constructive criticism I would love to hear. You can either leave it in the reviews and I will respond in the next chapter or you can P.M me directly. I really hope you know I appreciate everyone's support and I love you guys bunches.**


	16. Authors Note

**So _rry this isn't an update, but I wanted to let you guys know that I started a new story, "Isabella Gilbert." I think I'm going to be working on that story for a while longer and I think you guys should give it a chance._**

 ** _It is a Damon/OC story and I think that those of you who are big Damon fans will enjoy it. I have only post one chapter so far, but I will be posting a new chapter for that story at least once a week._**

 _ **However, this doesn't mean I have completely given up on this story. I'm just at a writers block and I think exploring new ideas would help. I hope you guys still support me and will continue to support me through my new story.**_

 _ **-Love you guys bunches.**_


	17. Chapter 15-History Repeating

**IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE AT THE BOTTOM. PLEASE READ IT! ENJOY :)**

 _Chapter 15:_

School was going by pretty normally for Madeline. She heard that Bonnie and Caroline were in the middle of a fight over some sort of old necklace, so when she saw Caroline she decided to go over and see if things have gotten any better.

"I still don't understand what the big problem is. Just talk to her about it." Madeline suggested.

"No, I'm mad at her. She needs to make the first move." Caroline replied stubbornly.

"Come on. We're not 5 here. Be the bigger person."

"Impossible in her presence."

"Much like this conversation." Madeline rolled her eyes.

"I'm the innocent one. "Caroline declared, " She is the one who won't give me back my necklace."

"I give up. I tried." Madeline huffed.

"Good. Your turn. Where's Stefan? Have you talked to him? And what about Damon?" Caroline sprung out.

"Stefan's avoiding me and I'm avoiding Damon."

"Why?" Caroline said hoping to get some new gossip.

Madeline struggled to come up with a good lie, so when the bell rang she took that as her exit.

"Sorry. Got to get to class, but we'll talk later." Madeline told Caroline before running off.

 **Madeline's P.O.V**

The first class I had was History, but know with Mr. Tanner gone, the school had to hire another History teacher. When I walked into the class I was greeted with a guy in his late twenties. He had light brown hair and greenish-blue eyes to match. Overall, he looked like a pretty nice guy.

I took my seat next to Elena and listened while the new teacher introduced himself.

"Good Morning everyone. Alrighty." He then picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name out in big letters across the chalkboard. "Alaric Saltzman. It's a mouthful, I know. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins. My family emigrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however, was born and raised in Boston. Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to pronounce " _Alaric_ " but it's " _Alaric_ ," okay? So, you can call me Rick. I'm your new history teacher." After that long introduction I decided that I like this guy.

Class went by quickly and before I knew it I was walking outside with Elena.

"You don't really think he's going to leave, do you?" Elena asked me.

"I honestly don't know. I haven't spoken with him since the Lexi thing and the last thing he told me was to keep my distance, so that's what I'm doing." I shrugged.

"What about Damon?" Elena continued to ask me questions.

"Ughh!" I groaned, "I never want to hear that name again. I knew he was dick, but I didn't think he would take it that far." I want nothing to do with Damon. I mean what kind of person kills his brother's best friend just because it benefits him. I don't want to put myself around people who don't care about anyone, but themselves. If you think about it, if he never killed Lexi then I wouldn't be in this predicament with Stefan.

All of a sudden Elena's eyes darted over to something behind me. I followed her eyes and my eyes met with Stefan whom was standing by his car.

"You should come sleep over today. Bonnie and Caroline are coming too." Elena invited me.

"Yeah alright. Sounds like it could be fun." I told Elena. She sent me a smile before walking away. Now I have to deal with this Stefan problem. So I took a deep breath before turning around and walking up to him.

"Hi." He greeted with a sympathetic smile. Pfftt. I don't need his sympathy.

"I'm surprised to see you here." I said crossing my arms. United front.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I haven't called or anything. But what I need to say shouldn't be said over the phone." Stefan told me with a sort of edge to his voice. Nope I can not show I care. I don't need a guy to make me happy. If he doesn't want me than his loss. Okay, I think I'm being a little over dramatic. He won't end things. Would he?

"You know a simple 'I didn't murder me brother' would have been nice." I told him.

"I didn't kill my brother, as much as he deserved it. He has you to thank you for that." But I doubt he ever would. His ego is wayyyy too big for that.

"His ego is already to big for that, but what is it you wanted to tell me?" Stefan let out a nervous chuckle to my comment about Damon.

"I won't be coming to school anymore. I'm gonna back off and keep my distance. It's the right thing to do." I took a second to look at him and figure out what he really meant, because there is no way that school is the problem.

"Are you sure it's school you want to back off from or me?" I said rhetorically.

When Stefan just looked down nervously I knew I was right. "Well at least now I know where we stand, right?" I scoffed.

"It's better this way." Stefan said like he was so sure that he was making the right decision.

Okay so maybe I don't need a guy to make me happy, but I really do want Stefan. However, if he doesn't feel the same way I don't know what else I can do.

"Maybe for you, but not me Stefan." I said clearly upset. I went to walk away, but his voice caused me to turn around.

"You're angry. That's good. It'll be easier if you hate me." I rolled my eyes at him like it was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard before.

I finally just gave up and walked away. As I was heading to my car I pulled out my keys and pressed the button that unlocks it. I was just about to open my door, but than all of a sudden Damon was in front of my blocking my way to the car.

"Long time no see." He commented. I simply rolled my eyes and tried to walk around him. But of course he couldn't allow that.

"Aww is someone having couple problems." Damon taunted.

"Move out of my way Damon. I want nothing to do with you." I told him sternly.

"Is this about Lexi? Cause you barely even knew her anyways." He groaned.

"It doesn't matter if I knew her or not. You knew how much Stefan cared about her, but once again you didn't care about anyone but yourself." I yelled at him. How could he just not care?

"You don't know what you're talking about." Damon growled.

"And I don't care. You two are going to be leaving anyways, so it doesn't matter what I think." I told him. I tried not to let the fact that I was sad they were leaving show in my voice. So before he could say anything else i walked past him and jumped into my car.

I hate how upset I'm getting that they are leaving. They have slowly inched their ways into my life and now they were trying to just remove themselves completely. That is so wrong.

I look out my window to see if Damon was still standing there, but he wasn't. I sighed deeply and laid my forehead up against the steering wheel. This is not how I wanted things to turn out.

Suddenly, the passenger seat door opened.

"Is it okay if you give me a ride?" Bonnie asked.

I picked my head up and said, "Yeah sure."

Throughout the ride Bonnie told me about the weird daydreams she's been having and about how Damon threatened her.

"He's bad news, Madeline. He really scares me." Bonnie told me with actual concern.

"I'll talk to Stefan about him, but in the meantime, I think you should try and keep you distance from him."

"I've been trying! He just keeps on showing up." Bonnie exasperated.

"Well that's Damon for you," I muttered, "but you're coming over Elena's house today, right?" I asked.

"Yeah." She confirmed.

"Great! That way tonight you won't be alone." I tried to make it positive.

"Can you pull over real quick?" Bonnie requested. I looked around and we were next to a field of tall plants and weeds. However, I still complied.

She got out of the car and threw the necklace that had been giving her weird nightmares/daydreams.

She gets back into the car and I give her a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

"Now I am. All my problems were because of that thing. I can't believe I didn't do that sooner." I start the engine back up and we continue to drive.

"Isn't your Grams going to get mad? She did kind of make a big deal out of that necklace." I pointed out.

"Grams isn't the one being haunted by a hundred and fifty-year-old ghost, is she?"

* * *

I invited Stefan over to talk to him about his brother, so when the doorbell rang I knew it was him.

"Thank you for coming. I wouldn't have called if I wasn't important." I said very professionally

"I know that."

I walk out onto my porch and close the door behind me.

"You need to get your brother under control. He can't just walk around threatening whoever he wants. Especially Bonnie." I lectured.

"What would Damon want with Bonnie?" Stefan asked.

"She has this necklace. Caroline got it from Damon, and she gave it to Bonnie, and now Damon wants it back. He's tormenting her."

"Over a necklace?"

"It's not just any necklace. It has to do with Bonnie's heritage. It belonged to one of her ancestors who lived here during the Civil War...Actually around the time when you and Damon lived here. Maybe you knew her. Her name was…"

"Emily." Stefan finished for me. "She was Katherine's handmaiden, and a witch."

"When did you find out about Bonnie?" I questioned.

"Since the night Elena invited us to that dinner."

"And now Damon know. And he's added, 'let's torture Bonnie to get this very old necklace' to his list of things to do." I said sarcastically.

"What does it look like?"

"It's an antique iron setting with a-"

"With an amber crystal. I know it. It belonged to Katherine. Emily gave it to her, which means that…"

"What?" I said becoming concerned when a confused expression settled on his face.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out. Let me talk to Damon."

"Do you think he'll even tell you?"

"I'll get it out of him."

* * *

Right now I'm at Elena's house with Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie and we're making dinner. It was really awkward considering Caroline and Bonnie are still in a fight. I was about to lose my mind from the silence, but thankfully Elena shot Caroline a look.

"I'm sorry. There. I said it. If you want the ugly-ass necklace, keep it. It's yours." Caroline said towards Bonnie. Then I remembered that Bonnie threw the necklace away and from the looks of it so did she.

"Will you hate me if I tell you I threw it away?" Bonnie asked with guilt plastered on her face.

"You threw it away?" Caroline said in an annoyed tone.

"I know it sounds crazy, but the necklace was giving me nightmares. I had to get rid of it." Bonnie defended.

"You could have just given it back to me." Caroline said growing angry.

"Why? So you can give it to Damon?" Elena said in a judgy voice.

"Okay Elena. Let's try to tune down the judgment." I interrupted.

"Screw Damon. Are we doing manicures or what? Who has their kit?" Caroline changed the subject.

"Mines in my bag." Bonnie said.

"So, Madie...how long do you think this fight with Stefan's gonna last? Is it...like a permanent thing?" Caroline asked me as she looked through Bonnie's bag for her manicure kit.

"I don't know." I shrugged off not wanting to think about him.

"Why are you such a little liar, Bonnie." Caroline yelled out.

"What?" Bonnie sounded confused.

"Caroline!" Me and Elena say at the same time astonished.

Caroline pulled out the crystal that I saw Bonnie throw away.

"I'm not lying to you, Caroline. I swear."

"It's true. I was there when she threw it away." I defended Bonnie.

"Then explain." Caroline ordered.

"Emily." Bonnie said mostly to herself.

"Who's Emily." Caroline asked.

"The ghost." Bonnie told her.

"So the ghost has a name now?" Caroline teased.

"Now isn't the time to make fun of her, Caroline." I sternly told Caroline.

"I wonder why she won't leave me alone." Bonnie said towards Elena and I.

"What's happening? Why am I not apart of this conversation? You guys do this to me all the time." Caroline said getting angry.

Bonnie and Caroline argued for a while longer until Bonnie proved her point that Caroline doesn't listen to her and only makes fun of her for saying she's a witch. Then we all started feeling bad because we never realized that we were making Caroline feel excluded. Therefore, we all apologized and Caroline made it her mission to try and understand Bonnie's witchyness.(If that's what you call it)

So currently we are all sitting in the middle of Elena's room in a circle with a bunch lit candles in the middle us.

"What are we doing?" Bonnie asked like this is the stupidest thing on the planet and I can't help but agree 100%

"I don't know." Elena says.

"Be quiet and concentrate. Close your eyes. Now take a deep breath. Bonnie. Call to her." Caroline instructs.

"Emily, you there?" I couldn't help a chuckle come out of my mouth.

"Really? 'Emily, you there?' That's all you got? Come on." Caroline encouraged. Damn she was really determined on this.

"Fine, geez. Emily. I call on you. I know you have a message. I'm here to listen." Bonnie says more seriously. We all waited for a second and nothing seemed to happen. Then the flames from the candles seemed to flare stronger, startling us all.

"Did that just.." I said.

"Yeah it just happened." Caroline confirmed.

"Guys, it was just the air conditioning, okay." Bonnie told us all. We all waited a little bit longer and nothing else happened.

"See? It's not working." Before Bonnie could finish her sentence, the windows bursted opened, scaring the living crap out of me.

"I can't. I'm done." Bonnie said jumping up of the floor. She pulled the necklace off her neck and threw it down next to the candles which blew out scaring her more. We were all left in the dark now.

"Get the light! Please, get the light!" By now everyone was off the floor.

"I got it." Elena said. As soon as she turned them on Bonnie noticed the necklace was gone.

* * *

Okay, so to catch you up on what happened; Emily possessed Bonnie's body and locked us in the house, but then Jeremy came and let us out. Caroline went home, and Elena and I followed Bonnie/Emily to Fell's Church. Unfortunately, through all the running I lost Elena and now I'm walking through the woods in the dark about to shit my pant.

"Elena!" I called out. "Scary witch who is currently possessing Bonnie's body!" I heard a grunt over my head causing me to look up and see Damon hanging from a branch that was sticking out of his stomach.

"Damon? What are you doing up there?" I said looking up at him.

"Just enjoying the view. What do you think? Can you help me down?" I rolled my eyes at him, but I knew I had to help him. I got on my tippy-toes to grabbed his hand and I yanked him off the branch with all my strength. He fell on the floor with a long groan.

"Man up. You're a vampire. You'll heal." I said as I attempted to walk away. I said 'attempted' because in a second Damon was in front of me.

"You try getting a branch pushed into your stomach." He said.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll pass." I moved around him and continued my search for my 2 friends. Or my 1 ½ friends.

"Stefan." I hear Bonnie's voice say. I ran to where I heard the voice with Damon behind me, but of course, Damon being Damon, grabbed me and sped us both to where everyone was.

Stefan automatically notices me and looks at me like he's scared I'm about to drop dead or something.

"Hello Emily." He says to Bonnie/Emily.

"These people don't deserve this. They should never have to know such evil." She says to him.

"What do you mean 'evil'?"

"Emily. I swear to God, I'll make you regret this." Damon threatens as he inched closer to Bonnie/Emily.

I run towards Elena and embrace her in a hug that she equally participates in.

"I won't let you unleash them into this world." Emily/Bonnie tells Damon.

"Them? What part of the story did you leave out, Damon?" Stefan accuses.

"What does it matter?" Damon brushed off.

"Emily, tell me what you did." Stefan demanded.

"To save her, I had to save them." She told him.

"You saved everyone from the church?" Stefan stood there in disbelief.

"With one comes all…" She said in monotone. Poor Bonnie. She has a crazy witch taking over her body.

"I don't care about them. I just want Katherine." Damon says avoiding my gaze. Well, it's great to know where his priorities lay. When Stefan told me they were leaving town I never expected it to be with Katherine.

"I knew I shouldn't have believed a single word that comes out of your mouth. This isn't about love, is it? This is about revenge." Stefan put together.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive."

"Damon you can't do this."

"Why not? They killed 27 people, and they called it a war battle. They deserve whatever they get." Damon said bitterly. Wow, so he was planning on releasing 27 vampires on this town and ditching. Even when we were friends he was still planning on doing this.

"27 vampires, Damon. They were vampires. You can't just bring them back." Stefan tried to reason with his stubborn brother.

"This town deserves this."

Okay, yup. I'm stepping in. "Are you seriously blaming innocent people for something that happened 145 years ago. The people who burned that church are dead. It's completely unreasonable that you are blaming this town for something their ancestors did to you." I raised my voice.

I held eye contact with him for a couple of seconds trying to figure out what was going through his head. Just as he was about to show some sort of emotion he looked away and his wall came back up. "There is nothing innocent about these people, and don't think for a second it won't happen again. They already know too much, and they'll burn your little grandwitch right next to us when they find out. Trust me."

"Things are different now." Bonnie/Emily said.

"Don't do this." Damon pleaded.

"I can't free them." The pentagram Bonnie/Emily carved into the dirt around her is set ablaze, and flames create a wall between Emily/Bonnie and Stefan, Damon,Elena, and me.

"No! No, please!" Damon yelled.

"Bonnie!" I yelled.

Bonnie/Emily throws the necklace into the air, and it explodes above her. Once the spell is complete and the crystal is destroyed, Emily departs from Bonnie's body. Bonnie finally reawakens, and looks around in horror, having no idea what had just occurred. I ran towards Bonnie and once I reached her I looked over to Damon, whose face is all vamped out.

Almost like I read his mind, I jumped in front of Bonnie just as Damon used his vamp-speed to get to her. He stopped right in front of me and looked into my eyes debating what he should do. And personally I was voting for not killing me.

"I'm getting the tomb open and as soon as I get Katherine I'm leaving and I'll never have to see you again." Damon spat at me. I felt tears come to my eyes at his harsh word, but I pushed it down. I blinked away the tears and when I opened my eyes again he was gone.

"Oh my god! Did you see his face?! What's going on?" I became aware of the now panicking Bonnie behind me and Elena rushed over.

"It's okay, Bonnie. I'll explain everything to you." Elena assured Bonnie as she helped her up.

"I'm going to take her back to my house. I'll see you when you get there, okay?" Elena told me and I nodded. She helped Bonnie up and left the scene.

I slowly picked myself up and turned around to face Stefan.

"I don't know what's going on in your head right now, but I don't want you leave. After everything that has happened here...between us...I just can't comprehend how it is so easy for you to walk away from it all." As I finished I closed my eyes and hoped and prayed that Stefan was going to say he was going to stay.

"I can't Madeline. After everything that's happened. Everyone that has died or got hurt. It's not worth it."

"I'm not worth it." I translated. He opened his mouth and then it closed back up. I waited for him to deny it but nothing came. "Okay, you know what that's fine. Leave. Live the rest of your immortal life. But stay the hell away from me until you do. Seeing you everyday...it's just going to make things worse for me when you leave. It might not affect you, but it does me." I said angrily at him before walking away.

 **3rd Person**

"I don't know what's going on in your head right now, but I don't want you leave. After everything that has happened here...between us...I just can't comprehend how it is so easy for you to walk away from it all." Stefan stood there and tried to remember what Elena had told him earlier.

 _(Flashback)_

 _Elena was running through the woods by herself since she lost Madeline on the way. As she was running she ran into a hard chest._

" _Elena? What are you doing here?" Stefan asked in a hurry._

" _Madeline and I came here to find Bonnie. She's being possessed by her ancestor Emily." Elena explained._

" _You said you and Madeline came here? Where is she?" Stefan asked appearing very worried._

" _I lost her on my way here."_

" _I have to go find her." Stefan said with determination, but just as he was about to walk away, Elena's hand came up to his chest and stopped him._

" _Are you still leaving town?" Elena asked. Stefan gave her a light nod._

" _Then do Madeline a favor and don't make it so hard on her." Elena told him letting go of his chest. He turned towards her with scrunched eyebrows._

" _What do you mean?"_

" _Everytime you show her you care it's just going to give her another reason to hold on. And it's going to make you leaving so much harder on her and I'm going to be here to pick up the pieces. So, do her a favor and don't give her a reason to hold on." Stefan thought about what Elena had told him. Maybe she was right. He didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave Madeline. But he knew that it was best for everyone including Madeline. So why would he make it any harder on her?_

 _(End Flashback)_

Stefan took a deep breath, knowing that what he was going to say was going to hurt her and it was so much harder than he thought it would be.

"I can't Madeline. After everything that's happened. Everyone that has died or got hurt. It's just not worth it." He told her looking into her eyes.

""I'm just not worth it." She translated. He opened his mouth, about to deny it and say how much she meant to him, but he closed his mouth as Elena's words snuck into his head. "Okay, you know what that's fine. Leave. Live the rest of your immortal life. But stay the hell away from me until you do. Seeing you everyday...it's just going to make things worse for me when you leave. It might not affect you, but it does me." Madeline said with her voice full of hurt.

Stefan watched as she walked away from him and once she was out of sight he turned and punched a nearby tree. Tears finally flew out of his eyes and he realized how much he just hurt the girl that means everything to him.

 **A/N: I really hope you guys liked this chapter. I finally had a writers break through. Personally, I am really happy how this chapter came out and I hope you feel the same.**

 **Riddicks-gurl1988: I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed my last chapter and everyone will soon find out about Madeline's family history/secrets.**

 **LunaWolfSunTigeress15: Thank you for your input and I am 100% sure you will be happy with who Madeline ends up with.**

 **Lyryenn: I'm so happy you enjoyed my last chapter and I hope you liked this one too.**

 **amazing Aisha: I'm sorry that my last chapter disappointed you, but I doubt that I will pair Elena with Damon. However, Damon will find happiness it'll just take a bit, but remember that it is still only the beginning of story and I plan on continuing this story until I can no longer cooperate Madeline into the story. Thank you for you feed back. I really appreciate it.**

 **Brookeworm3: I personally want to thank you for never failing in giving me feedback and I very much appreciate all of your reviews. And I'm so happy to hear you liked my last chapter and I really hope you enjoyed this one just as much.**

 **Thank you to everyone who left a review and I hope I didn't disappoint you with this one. I hope everyone enjoyed and I think I might make a habit of replying to the reviews. Love you bunches.**


	18. Chapter 16- The Turning Point

_Chapter 16:_

Last night was probably one of the worst nights of my life. When I got back to Elena's house she told me that Bonnie wanted to go home and try to digest the whole vampire thing. Then I cried for like an hour about Stefan and she was trying to comforting me. Eventually, I feel asleep and the minute I woke up this morning I took a shower and went downstairs where Elena and her Aunt Jenna were drinking coffee on the couch.

"Hey guys." I said joining them.

"Hey Maddie. Do you feel better today?" Elena asked me.

"Somewhat." I replied.

"So, I know you and Stefan are together, but I haven't heard much about you guys lately. Update?" Jenna joined the conversation.

"We broke up. And he's leaving town." I told her

"What?! Did you try and ask him to stay?"

"Yup and then he pretty much told me I wasn't worth him staying here."

Jena let out a scoff. "All guys are pigs."

We all get up and grab our jackets. "Do you know where he's going?"

"Nope and honestly I don't care." I lied right through my teeth. Of course I cared about where he was going, because I care about him...even if he might not feel the same way.

"Now that's the kind of attitude you should have." Elena encouraged. We all walked out the front door and towards the car, so Jenna could drive us to school.

"Yours leaves and mines returns." Jenna commented causing me and Elena to give her a weird look.

"Logan?" Elena tried to verify.

"The news guy?" I added.

"Yup, he's back in town. I didn't let him pass the front door." Jenna told us.

"I hope you slammed it in his face." Elena commented.

"It was a Medium-Slam." Both Elena and I gave Jenna a disappointed look.

"Three strike rule, Jenna. You're not even aloud to watch the news." Elena told her.

"I second that." I added.

"Exactly. No more Logan 'Scum' Fell."

_0_

School let out and as I was walking to my car I spotted Stefan. I tried to avoid him when he stood up.

"Madeline. I need to talk to you." I heard him say. I refused to look at him so I just muttered, "If it's important you can tell Elena. I'm sure she'll fill me in."

"Can you please just hear me out?" He asked me and I noticed that his voice seemed a lot closer now.

I stopped walking and I felt his hand go to my shoulder. Just as I was about to crack I pulled it together.

"Thinking…Thinking..." I dragged out. "Nope still can't think of one good reason on why I should do that." I concluded and pulled myself out of his grasp. Go me! I'm on a roll.

_0_

So I've been driving around for about 20 minutes with nowhere to go. I didn't want to go home for obvious reason, (a.k.a my scarey parents) I didn't want to go to Elena's house because I didn't want to talk about Stefan anymore, I didn't want to go to the Grill because I wanted to avoid the chance of seeing Damon. So I'm pretty much stuck in the infinite loop of 'let's drive around the whole town 10 more times'.

 _Bang!_

I jumped in my seat out of fright. Was that a gunshot? Who the hell is shooting a gun? Isn't that usually something people do at night time, not the middle of the day. I pulled over and got out of the car to see if anyone was hurt.

 _Bang! Bang!_

Two more shots were released and like the weirdo I am, I ran towards the sound. Which I automatically regretted when I saw Damon sitting on the floor prying a wooden bullet out of his shoulder blade and Logan Fell was standing in front of him with his back faced towards me.

What the actual hell? I stayed silent and hidden as I slowly made my way closer.

"Dude, it's not like the welcome wagon was waiting with a bundt cake and a handbook. It's been a learn as you go process. You know, one minute, I'm a small town on the rise news guy and next thing I know, I can't get into my house, because my foot won't go through the door." Logan complained. Wait, when did Logan become a vampire? I looked back up at the two vampires and I noticed Damon's body tense up and his jaw clench. His eyes shot to me and my eyes went wide. Shit! I thought I was doing a good job staying quiet. Hey, at least I was only caught by the vampire who wasn't holding a gun.

"You have to be invited in." Damon said as his eyes left mine.

"I know I live alone." Logan shared. I snickered at that. Stupid vampire. Maybe if you weren't such a douche to Jenna, you wouldn't be living alone.

I didn't notice what I did until I heard Logan's voice again. "Ah...Look who we have here." I looked up and I mental slapped my face. Shit Madeline! Actual shit! What do I do? Should I make a run for it. I looked at Damon who was glaring at me for being so stupid and Logan looked at me like I was a side dish.

Yup, this isn't going to end well for me. Snarky, hot, vampire douche who hates me, plus, new, psychotic, hungry vampire, does not equal Madeline getting out of this easily. Run for it! It's the only option right now!

I turned around swiftly and made a run for it. I would have totally made it out of there if I wasn't trying to run from somebody who had super speed. Logan appeared in front of me and grabbed me by my hair and threw me next to Damon.

"You are such an idiot." Damon commented.

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm not a vampire who can speed out of any room in the blink of an eye." I defended myself. This is absolutely not my fault.

"Why are you even here?" He asked.

"I heard gunshots when I was passing by and I thought some innocent person was getting hurt, but turns out it was just you." I said snarkily. Damon let out a low growl showing that he was angry at me.

"You're Madeline aren't you? You're the Clairwell's daughter." Logan asked and something in his voice showed that he was intrigued.

Okay so don't laugh at me for what I say next, because I was in panic mode.

"No I'm not...I'm-I'm...Amy." I mustered up the best lie I could think of on seconds notice.

"Amy?" Logan said with doubt in his voice. I could practically hear Damon roll his eyes.

"Is this your girlfriend?" Logan asked turning to Damon.

"No!" I said way to quickly and in a way to high of a voice. I cleared my voice. "I mean no." I said in a lower voice.

"Well then you won't mind if I have her, would you? She's a pretty thing. I might not kill her." Logan said giving me a look I very much would let Damon erase from my head.

"Let her leave. She has nothing to do with this." Damon snarled at Logan.

"I could do that, but it's not nearly as fun as this." Logan held his gun up at me and I shut my eyes as I heard 3 bullets leave the gun. I waited for the impact, but it never came. I opened one of my eyes to peak and I saw Damon in front of me. He grunted before falling to the floor. I looked at him with worry and I went to move to help him, but I was thrown to the other side of the warehouse.

"You really like her, don't you?" I heard Logan say to Damon.

"She's….tolerable. But she can't exactly be tolerable if she's bleeding out because you wanted to shoot her with wooden bullets." Damon said through groans. I picked myself up off the floor. Goddamn vampire strength. I've really come to hate all the abilities that come with being a vampire. That really hurt.

"Well then maybe you know why I've been so overly emotional. All I can think about is my ex-girlfriend. I wanna be with her and bite her and stuff." Logan asked as I stayed near the wall that I was thrown at.

Damon managed to pull out one of the bullets and threw it somewhere on the ground.

"Well, you probably love her. Anything you felt before will be magnified now. You're gonna have to learn how to control that." I scoffed at that. He's one to talk about control. I ignored the glare I felt on the side of my head, not doubtable coming from Damon.

"What about walking in the sun? I'm a morning person. You can walk in the sun which, by the way, is pretty cool."

Damon held up his hand and showed Logan his ring and then hid it with his other hand.

"The council will never suspect you. That's not in the journals." There was no way Logan was getting a daylight ring.

"The journal?" Damon questioned.

"Yeah, the founding fathers, they passed down journals to their kids. Come on man, you gotta tell me. How can you walk around in the sun?" Logan sounded really desperate.

"Who turned you?" Damon changed the subject.

"How do you walk in the sun?" Logan sounded determined in figuring out how to go outside during the day without, you know dying.

"Who turned you?" Let me just say that Damon isn't in the correct state or position to be challenging someone. Pftt..Idiot.

"You know, I've been really nice so far but I will kill you. Or better yet her." Logan threatened.

"Umm I know you guys are pretty happy being kinda sorta dead, but um I'd rather stay 100% alive. Just thought I needed to get that out there." I stepped in and said.

They both gave me weird looks. What?! It's not like I was asking them to worship me or anything.

"If you kill us then you'll never know. You're not answering my question." Damon picked himself up off the floor.

"You first." Logan said growing angry.

"It seems we're at a bit of an impasse then, doesn't it?" Damon said in his usual smug voice.

"I have things to do, people to kill. Guess I'll be needing a little head start." Before either Damon or I could do anything, Logan shot Damon two more times and pointed the gun at me. I felt immediate pain in my right leg and when I looked down it was gushing blood. Damn vampire shot me. I fell to the ground and groaned in pain.

I looked back up and Logan was gone and Damon was in front of me.

"This is going to hurt." He said before sticking his fingers into my wound and pulling out the bullet.

"OW!" I yelled as he got it out.

He bit into his wrist and shoved it in my mouth. I'm not a big fan of drinking vampire blood, but if it'll help me not want to cut off my own leg then I'll suck it up. Ha! See what I did there.

After I had enough blood to heal my leg Damon pulled his wrist away from my mouth. I watch as the hole in my leg healed.

"Okay I helped you now you owe me. Can you pull out these stupid bullets?" Damon said in discomfort.

I ended up prying 4 bullets out of Damons body. Each of which I made hurt a lot more than it had to. After I got the last one out I threw it at the ground and got up.

"What you did was very stupid. Coming here." Damon pointed out as he got up with me.

"Whatever. It's done and over with." I shrugged as I made my way out of the warehouse.

"Try and steer clear of Logan. He could hurt you again." Damon said from behind me. I abruptly turned around to face him.

"Why do you care? You were the one who said you couldn't wait to leave town so you don't have to see me again." I said out of spite.

Damon took a deep breath before speaking, "I know what I said, but it doesn't mean I meant it. I was angry at Emily for destroying my chances of getting Katherine out and you were just their. If I actually meant what I said I wouldn't have helped you back there." Damon said sincerely.

I wanted to be mad at him, but I couldn't help but understand where he is coming from. If I had spent over a hundred years of my life trying to find someone and then I found out everything I had worked for had been destroyed, then I'd be pretty angry too.

Plus, I wanted someone to talk to. I don't have Stefan anymore and I can't talk to Elena about it because she'll just encourage me to let him go. I wish that I could listen to her because part of me thinks she's right. But another part of me wants to hold on to whatever I had with him. And then there's Damon.

"You know you're a dick, right." I said with a smile creeping on my face.

"I've heard. Friends?" He asked with hope in his eyes that he tried to conceal.

"Probation." I stated firmly.

"Probation?" He said clearly confused.

"Yup, you're on friend probation. You have to follow strict rules and after a month we will evaluate your progress and see if you're friend material." I think I was being pretty generous with probation.

"A month? Don't you think you're being a little over dramatic? Can't we just jump back to the way things use to be?" Damon asked.

"Take it or leave it." I said placing my hands on my hips. I was not going to back down.

"Since when did you get so demanding and annoying?" He asked rhetorically. I rolled my eyes.

"Keep that up and you'll be on probation until you turn 200." I was going to follow this through.

"Hey, I didn't I sayI didn't like it. It's actually pretty hot." Ughhh...this is why I hate life.

He edged closer to me until we were only inches apart. Self-control.

I could feel his breath on my face as he looked into my ocean blue orbs.

Self-Control! Get yourself together woman!

Wait! Since when was I attracted to Damon?! A.K.A Stefan brother!

No. No. No. No. No. Bad Maddie. Bad. Very, very, bad.

"Friend probation." I emphasized the 'friend' part. I placed my hand on his chest and backed away.

"Aww. You're no fun." Damon commented as I opened my car door. Just before I got completely in my car I stuck my tongue out at him like I was 5 again.

_0_

Right now I'm at some sort of school event. Honestly, I don't even know what it's called. This town has way to many events for me to keep track. This event was all about your future and what you planned on doing. I was looking down at some things that were on display for if you wanted to be a doctor.

"You know I wanted to be a doctor before everything happened," I heard Stefan from behind me, but I didn't turn to look at him. "but, uh, then I couldn't, 'cause…"

"Blood lust." I finished for him.

"Yeah. I've dabbled in a bunch of different things, though."

"None of them interested you enough to stick to one thing." I guessed.

"No, all of them interested me. I just...I had to move on before anybody could notice that I wasn't getting any older." I moved to a different booth and Stefan followed.

"And how often did that happen?" I asked.

"Every few shorter." He answered.

"That must suck. Always having to leave something you love." I said as i fiddled around with the things on the booth.

"I didn't have a choice." I glanced up at him for a second causing him to smile.

"So, what about...what about you? What are your, uh, plans for the future?" He asked which got me frustrated and it caused me to turn my whole body towards him.

"Can we no talk about me future, because lately I don't even know what I want to do with it. But you've made it perfectly clear that you don't plan on being in it." I told him which cause him to frown.

"It's not that I don't want to…"

"I know. I know. It's because you can't. I heard you say it the first time. It doesn't mean I have to like it though." I said.

"I'm just trying to protect you." Before I could say something else Jenna interrupted us.

"Hide me." She said clinging onto my arm.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I fell for a douche. The 'Scum' Fell has landed."

"Logan?" I asked really hoping she would say no.

"Wait, Logan Fell?" Stefan stepped in. I walked away from the two and into the hall. And there I saw Logan in the middle of a crowd of girls. He saw me and sent me a wave.

"When did you find out he was vampire?" Stefan said from behind me.

"When he shot me in leg with a stupid wooden bullet." I said bitterly.

"He shot you?" Stefan asked in anguish.

"Yeah at the warehouse. Damon healed me so it's fine." I assured. "I'm sure Damon will tell you about it."

Logan made his way towards us, just as Jenna reappeared at my side.

"Jenna, are you dodging me?" Logan asked.

"It's a form of self-preservation." Jenna came back at him.

"Oh hey, Madeline. Long time no see." Logan said. I looked back him with fear that I'm sure Stefan saw. But of course that didn't stop the next thing that I said come out of my mouth.

"It's Amy, remember?" God I wish I had duck tape. It should be illegal for me to speak in stressful situations.

"Um, Madeline. Why don't you and Jenna go somewhere else?" Stefan suggested.

"Yeah you're probably right, Stef-a-boo." Really? 'Stef-a-boo'? Did I really just call him that? When have I ever called him that? Oh my god I need someone to hit me over the head with chair at least 5 times.

Stefan, Logan, and Jenna all gave me a weird look. Those have been getting thrown around alot today. "Yeah...Right. I'm gonna...go." I said awkwardly as I left, pulling Jenna along with me.

"Did you kiss someone?" Jenna asked me immediately. I internally cursed at her since we were still at hearing distance.

"What? No?" I told her like she was crazy.

"Are you sure, cause you look like your guilty of something?" Jenna asked again.

"Yes I'm sure. What would I feel guilty about?" Maybe the fact that I was sexually attracted to Damon today.

"I don't know." I let out sigh before I went to go find Elena to give her back her aunt.

Finally after 5 minutes of Jenna complaining we were walking to fast, I found her.

"Oh hey guys." She greeted us. I leaned forward and whispered in Elena's ear. "Logan is here and he's a vampire. Keep Jenna away from him. I'm gonna go find Stefan and Damon." I didn't give her enough time to argue as I walked away.

"Hey Madeline." I turned around and I found Matt standing behind me.

"Oh hey Matt." I said as I looked around to see if I could find Logan.

"You look a little distracted. Are you okay?" He asked with genuine concern that didn't go without notice.

"Um...Yeah. I guess you could say that. Have you seen Logan Fell? Tall, arrogant, news guy. Kinda hard to miss." I asked.

"Yeah, he just took Caroline home." Oh god.

"Please tell me, this 'Caroline' you speak of, was she a blonde, really perky, and last name happens to me Forbes." I asked. Please say no. Who am I kidding. The way my day has been going I wouldn't be surprised if the devil himself came up to earth and was just like, 'Oh you're friends with this person. Why don't I just throw them off a cliff?'

"Yup, that's the one." I'm really considering becoming an emo. Emo's are pretty mello. And on the plus side they only have fake vampire friends, not the ones who want to rip your friends throat out after she was possessed.

"Is something wrong? You look like you were getting lost in your thoughts. Penny for your thoughts?" He asked me.

"Just thinking about how I'm this close," I held my pointer finger and thumb up creating little space between them, "to becoming an emo. Next time you see me and I'm dressed in black send me to a psych ward as soon as possible. Catch you later." I practically ran away from him to go find Stefan or Damon. I couldn't find them anywhere. After what seemed to be FOREVER I pulled out my phone and called Damon

" _Couldn't stay away could you?"_ Was the first thing his annoyingly smug voice said.

"Shut up. Logan took Caroline." I told him as I got into my car.

" _I'm already wayyy ahead of you. Me and hero hair got her from Logan's car. She was a little banged up, but she'll be fine. Stefan's bringing her home right now."_ I don't think it's normal that I was ridiculously happy to find out a vampire didn't eat my friend.

"Thank you. What about Logan?" I asked as I started my engine.

" _I took care of him."_

"I think you'll be happy to hear that you just earned 10 points towards your probation." I said in satisfaction.

" _Points? What for?"_ He asked.

"If you reach 100 points before the month ends you are automatically off probation."

" _Great. Because the sooner I get off the probation the sooner…"_ He started doing this weird thing with his voice and I automatically cut him off.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Salvatore. I know for a fact that whatever was about to come out of your mouth was not PG." I warned him.

" _I was just going to say the sooner we can start a book club. But from the sounds of it you have other ideas."_ Damon said in his flirty voice which was my cue to hang up.

Just as I was about to throw my phone over to the passengers seat it started vibrating, indicating that someone was calling.

I looked to see who it was and when I saw it was Elena I picked up.

"Maddie, you need to come get me. I'm at the Boarding house." Elena said in panic through the phone.

"Hold on there, Elena. What's going on?" I asked. Maybe she was overreacting.

"I was in Stefan's room looking for him and I found a picture of Katherine on his desk. I just sent you a picture of it." Elena said. I glanced at the road before looking through my phone to see the picture Elena sent me.

"Okay I found it." I told her. I click on the picture and all hell broke loose.

Katherine...Looks...Exactly...Like….Elena. Oh My God.

What the actual fuck.

I was to occupied with the picture in my hand that I forgot I was driving and when I looked up, after what felt forever, I hit a person.

I slammed on my breaks and my car flipped over a bunch of times until it landed on the roof. Tears streamed from my eyes. My legs were being crushed and I felt like that was it.

And to just add to the good time I'm having, the person I ran over started to get up and head towards me.

Great.

 **A/N: I am really proud that I managed to get this new chapter out so quickly and I hope everyone enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed writing it. I decided it was best if Madeline didn't sleep with Stefan because it didn't feel like right with this story, so sorry to those of you who were looking forward to that. But on the bright side, Madeline and Damon are back on good terms. Can't wait to get more chapters out. Love you bunches.**


	19. Chapter 17- Bloodlines

_Chapter 17:_

"Good vampire. Good vampire." I said through pain. Stay calm. Maybe he wasn't going to kill me. Maybe he was just trying to say sorry for walking in front of my car while I was driving. I shut my eyes as the black hooded creep made his way towards me.

"How ya doing in here?" My eyes shot open as I heard Damon's voice.

"Oh my god. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see your face." I said as relief spread throughout my body.

"You look stuck." Way to point out the obvious.

"It's my seat belt. It's stuck." I panicked. All this blood rushing to my head probably isn't healthy.

"Shhh. It's okay. I'll get you out of there. I'm going to need you to place your hands above your head." I silently complied.

"Just like that. You ready? 1, 2, 3." On three he broke my seat belt and pulled me out.

"Are you okay? Anything hurt? Any broken bones?" Damon checked before setting me on my feet, but one of his hand remained on my arm and his other on my waist. I held onto both of his upper arms.

"Uh-Uh." I muttered, but I knew he could hear me. He loosened his grip on me to see if I could hold myself up, but I went crashing down. My vision went black and all I could feel was Damon's strong arms picking me up bridal style.

* * *

My eyes fluttered open and I immediately took notice of the killer headache I had. Wait was I moving. I opened my eyes completely and I noticed I was in a moving car.

"Good. You're awake." I heard Damon's voice next to me.

"Where are we?" I asked as we past a bunch of things I didn't recognize.

"Georgia." He said sounding all preppy. Nice try Damon.

"Come on where are we?" I asked more seriously.

"Georgia." He repeated. I didn't believe him until we drove past a coffee shop that had a sign in front of it that said, 'Best coffee in Georgia'.

"Why are we in Georgia?" I asked not hiding the fact that I was annoyed.

"Road trip." He answered.

"Turn the car around Damon. This isn't funny."

"No."

"What do you mean, 'no'? This is kidnapping. As in illegal." I don't want to be in Georgia. I want to go home and sulk about the fact that Stefan never told me that Katherine and Elena were pretty much clones. I know I shouldn't be mad about this since me and him aren't together, but he dated Katherine. And he dated Elena. What if Elena was a rebound for Katherine and when things didn't work out with her I was second best. Okay I might be thinking to much into this, but still. I think I had the right to know that his last two girlfriends could be twins.

I started hearing my phone ring. "Do you have my phone?" I accused.

"Yeah and it won't stop ringing. I was contemplating throwing it out the window." He an irritated expression.

"Damon! Stop the car. I'm serious."

"Madeline! No. I'm serious." He mocked.

"Damon!" I yelled at him.

"Maddie!" He yelled back playfully.

"You are so annoying." I said throwing my head back.

"You're yelling at me after I pretty much just saved your life. I would have thought you would have been more grateful."

"You kidnapped me! You know what, you just got 10 points taken off your probation." I informed him.

"Come on. I just saved you. That has to earn me some points."

"Nope you got them revoked once you freaking dragged me to Georgia."

"You're so difficult." He groaned. I just replied with an eye roll.

"Can you stop the car? I feel sick." I asked him. Surprisingly, he listened.

We both got out of the car and as soon as I stood up everything felt dizzy. I shot my hand up to the car to hold myself and all of a sudden Damon was in front of me with his hand placed on my upper arm.

"Are you okay?" He asked sounding genuinely concerned. I looked up at his face and took notice of how close we were. After a second of staying like that I moved away from him.

"Is there a reason why I feel like a volcanoes erupting in my head?" I asked straightening up.

"It's probably just the blood I gave you to help heal you after the accident." He told me.

"What did you do with the car?"

"I moved it to the curb. I don't think anyone will bother it." He told him as my phone started ringing again.

"Can I please have my phone back?" I asked desperately. He pulled my phone out of his pocket and checked to see who it was.

"Oh it's the little bro calling for the 100th time." He held out the phone for me to take.

"On second thought phone's are totally overrated." I really didn't feel like having the awkward conversation that I knew we had to have.

Damon sent me a smirk that didn't settle well with me.

"Madeline's phone." Damon answered my phone. I couldn't hear what Stefan was saying on the other line, but I'm guessing he isn't happy that Damon answered my phone.

"Madeline? She's right here. And, yes, she's fine." Damon said into the phone, but he kept his eyes on me. After a few more seconds Damon held out the phone to me again.

"He wants to talk to you." I shook me head staying quiet because I knew that whatever I said, Stefan could hear me.

"Looks like she's not really wanting to talk to you right now. Maybe another time." Damon said in a braggy kind of voice. "You have a good day. Mm-hmm. Bye-now." Damon said before hanging up and throwing me the phone.

"Can we please go home? I have things to do." And I don't feel comfortable going to a whole new state with no idea what to expect.

"We're almost there anyways. Why back out now?"

"Umm I don't know maybe because I don't even know where 'there' is." I said back at him putting a hand on my hip. Okay, I'll admit that I was pouting.

"Oh stop pouting." He teased as he stepped closer and flung my hand off my hip and replacing it with his own. I felt tingles under his hand. Almost like every cell he touched was on fire.

WTF! CODE RED! COD RED! RETREAT!

I slapped his hand off me and gave him a stern look. "Stop it."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't even do anything." He said innocently. Haha. So funny. I'm trying to be responsible and try to not feel attracted to Stefan's brother. And Damon isn't helping with all the flirty comments and non-friendly touching and that ghe does with his eyes. Ughh. It's so frustrating.

I don't know when this happened. And it's not like I have feelings for the guy it's just a sexual attraction, which is even weirder.

"Whatever. Get in car. Let's make this trip fast." I said jumping in the car. I refused to look at Damon the whole car ride. I might be sick. Yeah that's it. It's probably all that vampire blood I've consumed in the last 24 hours. Maybe it's called the fangy-flu. Wait what if that was actually a thing. It shouldn't be that far pitched. I mean if humans have tons of sicknesses, wouldn't the 'vampire species' have their own illnesses.

I could totally name all the diseases in the vampire world. They must have a website.

Okay, I got really off track.

"So what's going on between you and Stefan? Couples problems?" Damon joked, pulling me out of my vampire flu thoughts. I ignored him though. Who does he think he is saving me from a crazy vampire stalker, feeding me his blood to heal me, and then taking me on a road trip.

I just realized how ungrateful that sounds. So, maybe he isn't that bad, but he still didn't have the right to drag me to Georgia.

"So you're just going to ignore me the whole car ride?" He asked once he realized I wasn't going to reply.

Still not responding.

"Come on Maddie." I saw him look over at me from the corner of my eye.

Still not talking to him.

"This silent treatment you're giving me; it's really childish." He told me. I think he's getting bothered by my silence. Oh well. I'm really bothered by the fact he kidnapped me and brought me to Georgia. So I'm still not responding.

"If you don't stop ignoring me now I'm going to drive all the way to Texas." He threatened. I could tell he wasn't really serious so I continued just looking out the window in silence. This lasted a whole 3 seconds before Damon said something again.

"I'll tickle you." I call bullshit.

"I'm so serious Madeline." Wow the whole name. He must be getting pretty aggravated. Oh well.

"Alright I warned you." Before I could turn and look at him, his hand came up to my torso and start tickling me. Shit, I didn't think he'd actually do it.

I started squirming around in my seat, trying to get away from his hand. I even smack it a few times.

"Okay, okay! I'll talk to you! Just stop! I can't breath!" I pleaded through giggles. He finally stopped and retrieved his hand and placed it back on the steering wheel.

"Now are you going to talk to me?" he asked.

"Yes, fine. Whatever. Just no talk about Stefan, okay?" If I was going to comply with this whole 'road trip' thing, than I wanted it done my way.

"Okay, done. Anything else?" He asked satisfied.

"Yeah. Um...I have a question." I asked anxiously.

"Okay, shoot." He said like it was just going to be a simple question.

"Why didn't you tell me Katherine and Elena practically look like twins?" I said way too quickly.

He paused for a moment, clearly not expecting that to be the thing I asked.

"It wasn't important. Didn't think it needed to be brought up." He made up an excuse.

"You didn't think I needed to know that Elena is a walking clone of both you and Stefan's ex. I mean what if Stefan was using Elena as a rebound and when things didn't work out between them I was just second best. I will not be second best. Oh my god. What if he still likes Elena? I will be so pissed. Am I overthinking this?" I ranted.

"Definitely. And I wouldn't worry about Stefan. He's not using you for seconds best. He's the good brother, remember. And I thought we weren't doing Stefan talk."

"You're right. Stefan's name will not be mentioned at all from here on out." I said with determination.

* * *

"Did you seriously bring me to a bar? I'm not even old enough. They won't serve me" I said exasperated.

"Don't sweat it. Sure they will." Just after he said that a woman's voice fills my ears.

"No. No, it can't be. Damon. My honey pie." She said as she got closer to Damon.

Then she unanticipatedly grabbed his face and pulled him into a long kiss. I awkwardly stood there waiting for them to stop swallowing each others tongues.

As soon as they separate lips, she walked down to bar. Unsurprisingly, Damon grabbed my wrist and dragged to the bar as well. When we got there I plopped myself down onto one of the chairs.

"Listen up everybody! Here's to the man that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chances of happiness!" The woman yells to the whole bar looking pointedly at Damon. Nice to know what kind of track record he has.

She then starts pouring shots to everybody. Not sure that is something you should celebrate, but what do I know. I mean, I'm in Georgia with a vampire who I may or may not be attracted to. I kissed a vampire multiple time. My best friend is a walking clone of a vampire who was alive during the eighteen hundreds. My other friend is a witch. So I pretty much have no place to judge.

Damon and the the woman who I finally learned, name was Bree; dumped their shots in their mouths.

"So how did you get roped?" Bree asked as she poured me a shot.

"Not roped in." I cleared up instantly.

"Honey, if you're not roped, you're whipped. Either way, just enjoy the ride." She sounded like she really believed what she said, which kind of worries me.

"How did you two meet?" I asked changing the subject.

"College." Bree answered.

"Really? You, Damon Salvatore, went to college?" I asked unbelievably.

"I've been on college campus, if that counts." Damon told me. Eww that deeply disturbs me.

"Yeah, no." I mumbled so only Damon can hear and he sent me his oh so sweet smile.

"About twenty years ago, when I was a sweet, young freshman, I met this beautiful man, and I fell in love. And then he told me about his little secret, made me love him more. Because, you see, I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody." Bree shared.

Damon leaned towards me and whispered, "She's a witch."

"Changed my world, you know." I feel like there might be something wrong with her since she gives of this 'I pretty much worship Damon' vibe.

"I rocked your world." Damon smirked up. I think I feel vomit coming up from my throat.

"I think I'm going to throw up." I voiced my thought.

"He is good in the sack, isn't he? But mostly he's just a Walk-Away Joe." I almost choked on the air for a second.

"I wouldn't know. And I don't feel like finding out." I said full of morals.

"I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you. He is quite the charmer," she then turned to Damon, "so what do you want?"

* * *

I ended up going outside to get some fresh air away from all he drunk people inside and Bree's comments about be getting roped in. I dodged a couple of Stefan's calls and then went back inside.

I saw Damon sitting back at the bar and I went to join him.

"Figured you'd probably want this since you haven't eaten all day." He slide a burger and fries in front of me.

"Thanks, I've been needing this." I took a bite out of the burger while maintaining eye contact with Damon.

"So if Elena is descended from Katherine, does that mean she's like part vampire or something?" I asked once I finished chewing.

"Vampires can't procreate." He then stole one of my fries. "But we to try." He said with a wink. Ughh. Die.

"No, if they were related, it would mean Katherine had a child before she was turned." Damon answered my question.

I started taking the pickles out of the burger once I realized they were there.

"What's wrong with you. You don't like pickles." He said taking my pickles and tossing them in his mouth.

"Because they are disgusting and a complete rip off from cucumbers." I explained.

"Cucumbers are gross." Damon said scrunching his face up.

"They are pretty much the same thing. How can you even eat since you're like…"

"Dead," He whispered, "It's not a bad word. As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, my body functions pretty normally." He tried to take another fry from my tray but I slapped his hand away.

"Have fun. Enjoy yourself for like 10 minutes." He stressed. I simply just rolled my eyes.

"I can always make you. Seems like you forgot you bracelet today." I looked down at my wrist. Wait, but I remember putting it on after the whole Logan incident. It must have came of during the crash. I looked up at Damon's face.

"That's against probation." I reminded him.

"Here you go." Bree came back to join us, but this time with a beer for Damon.

"Thank you." Damon said with fake kindness.

"Can I get one?" I pipped in. Damon looked at me surprised.

"I'm stuck with you for a couple more hours and the more alcohol I consume the less I'll have to remember it in the morning."

"Here you go." Bree handed me a beer. I took the beer in my hands and took a long sip of it.

Tonight was going to be long night.

* * *

"Ready...Go!" Bree yelled as Damon, a bunch of strangers, and I took a shot of liquor. I quickly downed mines and slammed it on the counter.

"That's four!" I announced as I clapped my hands and did a little dance. I turned to Damon and made a pouty face.

"Aww can someone not handle their liquor. You a little embarrassed you got your ass beat by a human." I teased.

"It's not my fault I can't unhinge my jaw like a snake to consume alcohol." Damon said vivaciously back.

"Whatever. All right. Who's next? Another round, Bree."

"Honey, you should be on the floor." A lady in the room told me.

"I am not even drunk. My tolerance is, like, way up here." I got on my tippy toes and reached to the ceiling.

"Okay, I think I'm cutting you off." Damon stepped in.

"You can't cut me off. I am 17 years old. I can decide when I need to be cut off." I said childishly.

"Yeah and I've got about 150 years on you so I decide." Damon said sternly.

"No far. Why couldn't I have died in eighteen-sixty four and became a vampire. Whatever I'm gonna go hang out with non-vampire people." I said walking past him. I was going to make real human friends tonight.

I walked into a group of people and started mingling. As I was talking to some girl who didn't seem much older than me, my back hit someone. I almost fell down, but whoever I bumped into caught me.

I turned around and i saw a man who looked about 19 years old. Is this bar not aware of the fact that underaged drinking is illegal?

That was besides the point. This guy seemed nice. He had blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes and stood at about 5'11.

"Oh hey sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you." He immediately apologized.

"It's all good. No harm...something foul. I don't remember." I said with a flirty smile.

"Are you drunk?" He asked.

"A tiny bit." I giggled. "But i'm not drunk enough to see that you remind me of my teddy bear." I said to him. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be flirty or not, but by this point I was too drunk to care.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" He laughed.

"Yes. Actually not many people get that compliment, but it means you're cute just like Mr. Teddy." I said sounding very tipsy.

"You're cute too." He blushed.

"She also has a boyfriend." I heard a voice from above me and a hand went around my waist. I tilted my head up and I saw Damon hovering over me.

I slapped his arm. "No I do not. I am completely boyfriend free. This fellow up there," I said referring to Damon, "is a very mean and over-protective _friend,_ whom kidnapped me and dragged me here to this bar." I emphasized the 'friend' part. I felt the vibration of Damon's chest indicating he was a little mad.

"She's drunk and I think I should get her home." Damon told the guy before dragging me to the door.

"Don't be mad. You're cute too." I told Damon once we was giving me a cold hard stare, but it soon loosened up.

"Just stay here, please. I have to do something real quick and then I'll be right back." Before waiting for me to say something, he just walked away.

Nobody should ever let me talk to people when I drunk. I'm a flirtaddict. An addict to flirting. I even called Damon cute and used my teddy bear line to try and pick up a stranger.

No more alcohol for Maddie.

Almost like on que Stefan's name lit up on my phone. You know what I'm going to grow some balls and talk to him.

I walked out the door because it was to loud inside.

"Hello Stefan." I said like an angry father who just caught their child sneaking into the house at 2 a.m.

"Madeline, are you okay? Did Damon hurt you? Where are you? I can come get you right now." Stefan sprung at me into the phone.

"I'm fine Stefan. But you know what isn't fine? Not telling me about how Elena is a walking twin of your ex Katherine. Not cool dude." I was trying to sound as sober as possible.

"I will explain everything to you as soon as you're home." Stefan said desperately.

"No, you know what? I don't care. That's probably why i didn't use my teddy bear line on you. You don't deserve to hear my teddy bear line. Maybe that was was my subconscious saying, 'he's not going to be nice to you so he doesn't deserve the special line.' I should have listened." I whined into the phone.

"Are you drunk?" Stefan asked.

"No…?" I dragged out.

"Look I can come get you right now and we can talk about everything. I promise."

"Bye-Bye Stefan. See you later." I said hanging up.

Ughh. I hate guys. Specifically vampire guys.

I should probably get back inside before Damon throws a vampire sized tantrum. Just as I was about to open the door to go inside, I felt someone's hand wrap around my mouth. I knew this person was a vampire by the incredibly fast way I ended up hanging onto a tank next to an electrical building.

What is up with the kidnapping today, jesus.

"What are you doing?" I asked the guy who grabbed me.

"What I have to do." He said extremely vaguely.

I saw Damon come into view and I quickly went to put my eyes back on the guy who took me, but I could not longer see him.

"Damon, watch out!" I yelled. He didn't have a chance to even look at me because the guy came up out of nowwhere and wacked him with a metal stick.

I jumped off the tank and ran towards the two vampires. Damon was getting repeatedly hit and kicked in the face. The guy started to pour gasoline all over Damon.

"No, stop!" I yelled once I finally got to them. He responded by turning to me with his 'vampire face' on, which, I'm not gonna lie, kind of scared me.

"Who are you?" Damon muttered from below him.

"That's perfect. You don't even know." The guy said sounding amused.

"Whatever he did, I'm sure he's sorry about it." That was a whole lie, but it was better than saying, 'you're not the only person who wants to kill him.'

"He killed my girlfriend. What did she do to you, huh? What did she do to you?!" The man kicked Damon in the face repetitively.

"Nothing." Damon moaned.

"Who was your girlfriend? I don't understand." I said confusingly.

"My girlfriend went to visit Stefan, and Damon killed her. Got it?" He said venomously towards me before hitting Damon with a bat again.

"Ahhh." Damon yelled out. Oh god, he was talking about Lexi!

"Lexi was your girlfriend?" I tried to get him to clarify.

"I chose to become immortal for her and then he killed her, ruining everything." he said as he took out a box full of matches.

"Lexi turned you." I concluded finally understanding.

"If you want to be with someone forever, you have to live forever." That is some pretty messed up logic. He then lit the match. Think Madeline think. Or beg. Whatever comes out first.

"Please, you don't have to do this." Begging it is.

"I'm doing you a favor." Okay so begging is off the list. Come on Madeline. Think fast, unless you are willing to drag Damon's corpse back into the car and hand him over to his brother.

"Lexi was good. That means you are too. She loved you. Be better than him. That's what Lexi would have wanted." Lexi's boyfriend paused for a second. I think I got to him.

He picked Damon up off the floor and threw him into another wall. He hit the wall with a loud _thump._

That looks like it hurt.

"Thank you." I told him thankfully.

"It wasn't for you." He said before speeding away. I was frozen for a second and I thought about how he turned into a vampire just for the love of his life to die.

* * *

Damon and I ended up in the car on our way back home after he 'handled some business' with Bree. I had my forehead pressed against the car window with my legs all curled up and my mind was racing with a million thoughts and I decided to voice the one that was taking up most of my thoughts.

"Did you kill her? Bree?" I asked while watching the trees pass by.

"She set me up and almost got me killed and could have gotten you hurt. Who knows what he would have done with you after he killed me." The way he didn't show any remorse for killing the woman was really nerve wrecking. I mean I know she did mess up by trying to kill him and that she probably deserved it, but it was still a human life. Although, it wouldn't be the first person Damon killed, so I feel like I shouldn't feel like this. This time just feels different.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm having these weird feeling for him which really sucks since he's still hooked on getting Katherine back. My feelings have really bad timings.

But Stefan is the good guy. I know I can count on him to do the right thing even if it hurts him. So why would I act on feelings that are just a phase and probably aren't mutual when I can fight for my relationship with Stefan because no matter how many time he says he doesn't think our relationship is worth it; I don't believe him, but it still hurts to hear.

Maybe all me and Damon are suppose to have is a friendship. If that's it than I can work with that.

"Why did you bring me to Georgia?" I asked after a while of silence. I finally looked over at him.

"You aren't the worst company. You're actually pretty fun." He shrugged.

"So that's the only reason?" I asked suspiciously.

"You were there in the road, all damsel-in-distress-like. And you're on the very few list of people I like so I thought I'd bring you along. Plus is would piss of Stefan, so that was good too." He fessed up.

"I actually had a good time today."

"You did okay." He smirked looking over at me.

"I saved you!" I pointed out. I deserve more credit.

"And I saved you." Toshay.

"Even?" I ask.

"Not even close." He laughed. I guess that's pretty far since he's saved me a lot more times than I have him.

"Fine, but I did pretty good today." I crossed my arms.

* * *

Damon pulled up to my house after about an hour. We both got out of my car as he walked me to my door. I saw my parents' car was there so that means they were home.

Once we got onto the porch I could tell he was about to say something so I didn't say 'good night' right away.

"I know that your vervain bracelet got lost from the car crash, so I asked Bree for some extra vervain before I, um...yeah. And I got this for you when you sleeping in the car." He pulled out a silver heart locket. I turned around so he could clip it for me.

"I uh..figured it could earn me some points on my probation." He told me like he was using his probation as an excuse to actually do something nice.

"Once he clipped it I turned around with a big smile and engulfed him into a big hug, throwing my arms around his neck. He seemed a little put back be this gesture, but then he finally eased into it and put his arms around my waist.

"Thank you." I whispered in his ear.

We finally parted, but we were still pretty close.

"Goodnight Madeline." He said first. Then he did something I didn't see coming. He leaned in a laid a kiss on my forehead.

I stood there for second before saying, "Goodnight." I turned around and walked into my house.

Woah.

Wait, where are my parents? I would have thought they would be waiting for me to get home since it's past my curfew and I haven't been home since last night. I walked further into the house and into the kitchen. All the lights were off so I turned on the kitchen light. That's when I noticed a note on the counter.

Oh they probably just had to go someone today.

I grabbed the note which seemed to be weirdly longer than their usual notes.

 _Dear Madeline,_

 _I'm sorry to tell you that your father and I left. After your sister's death things started to downfall and your father's work has gotten extremely complicated. So once we found out that you were getting yourself involved with vampires we tried to look past it. However, your father had a harder time doing that. We can no longer put ourselves at risk by living in a household where vampires can openly walk into our house. And it breaks my heart to know that you are friends with monsters like them so me nor your father can find it in ourselves to raise someone who is okay with living the way you are. You are welcome to stay in the house for as long as possible. It is now under your name only. It is paid off for the next 3 years. I hope you have a wonderful life and it was a pleasure raising you for the last 17 years. We can never be in communication, so don't try and look for us. We want nothing to do with you anymore, so you'll have to just let us go. Stay safe._

 _Sincerely, Mom_

No. This can't be true.

Tears started filling my eyes as I ran upstairs into my parents room to find it was cleared out. I ran into the closet just to see that it was empty.

Tears started rolling down my face.

They really abandoned me. My sister dies, my parents leave, Stefan's leaving. What did I do to deserve this. I went into my room and I pulled out my phone.

After the first ring Stefan answered.

"Madeline? Is that you?" I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my face.

"Yeah it's me. I really need you right now." My voice cracked.

"Are you crying? Where are you?" He asked very worried.

"At home. Please get here as soon as possible." I cried into the phone. I hung up the phone and threw it on my bed.

Everything is falling apart and I don't know why. I just want to crawl in a whole and never come out. I ran my hand through my hair and tried to make the tears stop. I turned around and I saw Stefan standing there and behind him the window was open.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he got closer to her.

"They left." I sniffed

"Who left?" He looked at me with confused eyes. I handed him the letter from my mom and he took it.

After 10 seconds Stefan looked up from the paper and looked at me with sorry eyes. That was enough to make me completely break down. He went to go hug me but I stopped him.

"Why didn't you tell me about Katherine?" I asked as tears fell down my face.

"We don't have to talk about this now, Maddie. You are already feeling about a million things." He tried to get out of it.

"No, I need to know. I'm tired of being lied too, Stefan. I can handle the truth. As crazy as it is, I can handle the fact that you are a vampire. And that you have a vampire brother. And that Bonnie is a witch. I can accept the fact that the world is a much more mysterious place than I ever thought possible. But this...this lie, I cannot take. Not now. With all these unanswered question floating around my head I want you to answer this one. I need to know if you are just using me as second best because you can't have Katherine or Elena. What do you see me as?" I told him.

"I see you as you. You are the most amazing person I've come to know in my 162 years of living. You are everything Katherine and Elena aren't." he explained to me.

"And when did you figure that out? After we kissed? After I told you how I feel about you? After you told me I wasn't worth you staying?" I cried.

"After I sat down with you at a tree during lunch on the first day of school when you were eating an apple and reading Hamlet." He brought up the first time when actually talked.

"What?" I said surprised he actually remembers that.

"I came back to Mystic Falls to know more about Elena, yes. But I stayed because of you. Then I saw you sleeping in a car the morning after you came to my house to study. I couldn't figure out what kind of parents would let their child sleep in a car, so I looked into it. When I looked into your parents file I didn't come across any records of your mother being pregnant." He explained.

"What are you saying?" I asked hoping to not get the answer I was thinking.

"You were adopted, Madeline." I looked at him with unbelievable eyes.

That can't be true. I got up off the bed and faced.

"That can't be true. No. They were my parents." I cried even more. "How could they not tell me? My life is full of lies. That's all it is. Lie after lie."

Stefan stands up and grabs my face. "None of that matters. You know what matters right now. Me and you. That's it. We've always been there for each other and that isn't going to stop now. I love you, Madeline. You are the women I love." I froze for a second. Did he just tell me he loved me? I looked into his eyes and all I could see was passion.

 **MATURITY WARNING (LEMONS):** _If you do not like sexual scenes just skip the rest of chapter._

I leaned in to kiss him. I put everything I was feeling into that kiss. He didn't take his time to respond. The kiss turned into a full on make out. I opened my mouth slightly giving his tongue entrance.

His hands trailed under my shirt and up my torso. Every spot he touched made me feel like I was on fire, so in result I separated our lips so I could lift my shirt up over my head and throw it to the ground. He did the same with his shirt. He claimed my lips again and our tongues rolled around together. He started kissing down my jaw and neck as I threw my head back. I let out a low moan before pushing him down on the bed.

I got on top of him and started kissing down his chest indefinitely leaving marks. I felt his chest vibrate as he let out a low groan. Then I felt myself being flipped over so Stefan was now on top of me. Our lips met again and moved together in harmony. I felt his erection against my inner thigh and I couldn't take it anymore. I reached down and unbuckled his belt. He took control and slide off my pants. In the process he let his fingers brush up my inner thighs all the way up my torso causing my to shudder.

Before he continued he looked me in the eye and asked, "Are you sure?" I waited second before nodding my head. He leaned down for a slow and passionate kiss. We let everything we have ever felt about each other into that kiss and it continued as he took off his pants, leaving him in his boxer which didn't stay on much longer.

I had one of my hands tangled in his hair and the other yanked of my underwear. He positioned himself between my legs and lined his member up with my clit. I gasped when his tip slowly entered me. Once his full length was entirely inside of me he pulled out and repeated the action. We were breathing heavily against each others face as he quickened his pace. I rolled my hips into his with each thrust.

As I reached my peak my toes curled and I prepared myself. I let out a not so quiet moan as I released. We rid it out just as he reached his climax. He was breathing really heavily as we continued the rest of the night enjoying each others presence and putting all of the sexual tension to use.

 **A/N: I hope everyone liked this chapter. I've been finding it so much easier to write when I have the supports writing reviews, so thank you to those of you who support this. And if you don't like my story there is no need to leave a nasty review. There are always other stories you could read if you truly don't like this one. However, I do recommend you give this one a chance. Anyways, love you bunches.**


	20. Chapter 18- Unpleasantville Part A

I was walking back into my room with a towel around my body and one around my head.

"So where are you planning on going?" Stefan asked looking at the suitcase and duffle bag on the floor.

"I texted Elena about the whole situation and she said that she told Jenna about it. Except the whole vampire part. And Jenna offered to let me live over there. I figured it was better than staying in this empty house by myself." I explained as I went into my closet looking for something to put on for the day. All of a sudden I felt Stefan's hands circle around my waist.

"You don't have to make these decisions right away. It's okay to be sad about them leaving and the fact that you were adopted." He said into my ear. I turned around to face.

"I was sad yesterday. I got everything out of my system and now I'm fine. All because my awesome boyfriend was there for me." I pecked him on the lips before grabbing a plain maroon t-shirt, black leggings, and a jean jacket.

"I'm always going to be there for you." He said passionately. He grabbed me and threw me on the bed.

"Come on, I have to get dressed. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to go outside naked." I giggled.

He groaned.

"Oh yeah, do you have any idea who that guy I ran over was?" I brought up.

"I don't know. Do you remember anything else about him?" He asked as I put on my underwear and bra.

"I wish." I pulled on my leggings. "I never really saw his face. He was wearing a hoodie." I told him as I put on my shirt. "All I can remember is that there were these black boots coming towards me."

"I brought some vervain for, um—for you." He said picking up a box that was sitting at the end of my bed. "Now that you are going to be living with Elena and Jenna you can give some to them too. And, um, I made this bracelet for Jeremy, few extra ones for friends." He hands me the bracelet and I inspect it. "You can put it in jewelry, or you can even put it in food or drinks, but as long as it's in you or on you, a vampire cannot control you."

He pulled out a small vial of liquid vervain and handed it to me.

"All of this stuff is going to pretty hard to remember." I said with a nervous laugh.

"I know, but there's another vampire in town. So until we find out who it is and what he wants, we have to be careful." I nodded my head understandingly.

"We should get going." I said standing up. I slid my jacket on while Stefan grabbed my suitcase. I picked up my duffle bag and we left.

_0_

I was unpacking in the guest room with Elena's help and we were talking about everything going on in each others' lives.

"So Jenna never told you that you were adopted?" I asked as I put some clothes on hangers.

"Nope. And I don't think she was even planning on ever telling me." She huffed.

"Same with my parents. If I would have never even met Stefan or Damon I would still be walking around thinking I was birthed by my the women who raised me." I said closing the closet.

"Elena! I need the money!" Jeremy yelled from downstairs. Elena rolled her eyes before exiting the room with me following her.

"Here you go. You can keep the change." Elena handed the money to the pizza guy who was in the house. He looked at me for a second before smirking. Weird.

Once he took the money he walked backwards out of the house. "Thanks. And you have yourself a good night." Elena smiled at him before shutting the door.

I opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice. "So you're going to be like a permanent member of this house now?" Jeremy asked, also getting a slice of pizza.

"Yeah I hope so. I owe Jenna a huge thank you when I see her." I said sitting down at the island.

"Oh yeah that reminds me, Aunt jenna wanted me to tell you that she needs a few of your files so that she can complete the paperwork to make you an official part of the family and add your name to the house lease." Elena informed me while taking the seat next to me.

"Those are still at my house, so I'll stop by to get them sometime tomorrow." I said taking a bit out of the pizza.

"Great." Elena smiled.

_0_

Currently, I'm walking in the front courtyard with Caroline, whom is inspecting the vervain filled necklace I presented her with.

"It's so pretty. Thank you. God, it'll go with, like, everything. What's the occasion?" Caroline said with her voice filled with her usual preppy yet joyfulness.

"No occasion. Just a little best friend gift. Plus, I had some spare money to use and I thought what better way to use it than on my best friend." And I also didn't want a vampire to compel her to do something stupid like fail a class or get a tattoo or to not scream while they drain you of your blood.

"Lesbian best friend necklace? Cause we're freaky like that?" Caroline sent a playful wink my way and I chuckled at it.

"Your friendship is important to me." I said truthfully.

"Why are you being to mushy?" She questioned.

"Because it feels like forever since we've talked or hung out. And you haven't told me why you are avoiding me or what happening between you and Matt." I lied. I mean I was really being mushy because I don't know when another vampire will pop up in town and decide to use Caroline as a snack. Better be mushy now than never.

"I know and I've been wanting to tell you about it, but my mind has been to busy trying to come up with ways to not make things awkward between me and Elena. And Matt and I have really hit the peek of our friendship. It'll be weird if I talk to Elena about it, won't it?" Caroline ranted.

"I think Elena would understand. Her and Matt are over and he knows that. I don't think you have anything to worry about." I comforted her.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I shouldn't have anything to worry about. Thank you. That really helped. See you are way easier to talk to than anyone else."

"That's what I'm here for, right?"

_0_

As I was walking to my car on my way out of school , my phone rang. I didn't bother looking at who it was and just answered it.

"Hello." I said into the phone as I opened the car door.

"Hello Madeline." I heard a male voice say into the phone.

"Who's this?" I asked confused.

"You hit me with your car." I froze at this. Come on play this off Madeline.

"I believe it was you who walked into my car. Totally not my fault." I almost slapped my forehead at my response. Great job Madeline.

"That's a nice way of thinking about it. Is that a new one?" He asked referring to the car. I immediately looked around me until I spotted a guy wearing a black hoodie approaching me.

"You got away once, it won't happen again. And you can tell your friend Elena that she's next." I hung up the phone and jumped into the car, quickly starting it and driving off.

_0_

"Why us? What does he want with us? A-and if he's trying to kill us, then why call first?" Elena questioned to Stefan and Damon.

I was sitting on the couch wanting to know the answers that Elena was asking. After the phone call with the vampire I called Elena and told her to meet me at the Boarding House.

"Well I'm guessing they want to toy with you because of your impeccable resemblance to Katherine, but Madeline, I'm not sure why." Damon said looking over my body as if trying to see what the vampire would want with me. I personally would like to know the same thing; however, Damon's lingering eyes weren't helping in the least bit.

I've been thinking ever since I woke up this morning, why I didn't say 'I love you' back to Stefan. I tried to put it in my mind that he was good for me and that he is what I needed. But what if I only slept with him because of all the overwhelming emotions i was having. I don't want to think that everything that happened last night was just because I wasn't right in the set of mind, because if that's true than I have to tell him. So denial it is.

"They called first because we're predators, Elena. We hunt. We stalk. It's often as exciting as the kill." Stefan explained.

"That is exactly why I'm giving you this." Damon said handing me a compass. I took it and let my fingers graze over it.

"That's Jeremy's pocket watch. How'd you get it?" Elena questioned.

"I took it from Logan who must've took it from you." Damon said glancing at Elena.

"What is it suppose to do?" I asked. Stefan stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Damon.

"Well, it's not just a watch. It's a...it's a sort of compass, but it points to vampires." He took my hands in his and used his fingers to open it. The needle on the inside started spinning until it stopped pointing directly at him. I looked up from the compass to Stefan.

"Why did my father have this, Stefan?" Elena questioned.

"Gilberts were one of the founding families, and back in 1864, they were among those who sought to eradicate the vampires. The compass was used to find us." Stefan explained.

"Did you know them?" I asked pulling his attention back to me.

"Yes. That's why you should keep this. That way, you'll know if you're ever in danger." I looked into his eyes and nodded.

I stood up breaking eye contact. "I have to go. Jenna wants these papers and I said I'd give them to her today." I started to turn around, but Damon's voice stopped me. "I can give you a ride." He said told him. Hmm sounded like that should have been a question.

"I'm fine. I can drive." I assured him.

"I'll give you a ride." He said more sternly. I noticed that Stefan and Elena's eyes were on us as if waiting to see what I would say next and it made me feel very uncomfortable. I wanted to get out of this awkward position, so let's take a look at my options.

Argue with Damon and fail miserably.

Make a run for it (because that worked so well the first time i tried it)

Stand here awkwardly in silence for the rest of my life

Or comply and let Damon drive me

None of those options appealed to me at all, but I went with my best bet.

"Fine.." I rolled my eyes. Ugh, why didn't Stefan stop him. I hurried out of the house into the car.

Once I got inside I shot Stefan a text.

 **Me: Thanks for the help.**

 **Stefan: Hey I had to deal with him for 162 years. I'm sure you can handle 20 minutes. I'll see you when you get back and I'll make it up to you.**

 **Me: You better.**

I put my phone in my pocket and took notice of Damon sitting next to me in the driver's seat.

"Where'd you get this car?" He asked.

"It's my parents." I told him as he started the car and pulled it out of the driveway.

"They don't need it today?" He asked looking straight in front of him at the road.

"Or ever. They left." I said keeping my voice free of emotion.

"Left?" He questioned.

"Yup, I guess they knew about vampires and aren't exactly a fan of them. So when they found out I was friends with two of them...lets just say they aren't exactly accepting people. They left yesterday and took all of their belongings. But then I found out I'm adopted and now I couldn't care less what happened to my parents. They suck anyways." I informed him. Liar.

"Oh, so that's why Stefan wasn't home last night." He said, "Ohhhh now everything is making more sense." He dragged out.

I turned my head to look at him and scrunch my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I was wondering why you and him are suddenly on such good terms." He said vaguely.

"Still not following." What was he talking about?

"Vampire sex fixes everything." From the second that sentence left his mouth I started coughing violently.

"It's a well known fact." Damon shrugged.

"I hope to never hear that sentence come out of your mouth ever again." I said once I calmed myself down.

"Stefan's mind must be going crazy with all of his worrisome thoughts." Damon stated. Was that supposed to be an insult?

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you just found out your parents abandoned you, causing a bunch of humane emotions to take over and he shows up and you have sex. Clearly you just slept with him because you were in distress. I'm sure he'll figure it out soon if he hasn't already." He explained to me like it was common knowledge.

"You're a dick you know that." I said refusing to look at him.

"Yeah, well I don't hear you disagreeing." He said smugly.

"You're wrong." I said defensively.

"I'm rarely ever wrong." I scoffed at this.

"Whatever." I said as he parked the car outside of my house and I jumped out.

"Aww you're so cute when you look all 'women on a mission'." I heard Damon say from behind me. I didn't respond. Stefan owes me big time.

I opened my front door and went straight up to my room with Damon hot on my trail.

"Why are you even here?" I asked as I entered my room.

"I figured that sense we had a good time in Georgia…" I stopped him mid sentence.

"Try again." I said.

"I'm trying to earn probation points…?" he said trying to see if I'd buy it. I rolled my eyes

"At least make yourself useful while you're here. Can you go downstairs to the living room and grab the books that are on the table." I asked.

"Why not?" he shrugged before leaving my room. I left some things here when I was packing so I thought that I'd get them now. I went in my closet to get another duffle bag, but something on my closet floor caught my eye. It was a small-ish cardboard box. I got on my knees and opened it.

Inside I found a bunch of books and an envelope. This definitely wasn't here yesterday morning. I heard Damon walking up the stairs, so I quickly grabbed the duffle bag and put the box inside of it.

"Here you go." He said holding out the books. I turned around and took them from him. I stood up and went into one of my drawers that had a folder with all my forms. I took it out and then grabbed a few of my other favorite books and a photo album. I carried them to my duffle bag and stuffed them in it. I picked it up and tried to successful show that it wasn't to heavy for me.

"Alright I'm done." I said trying to walk past him, but he side stepped me. I didn't attempt to move again because I knew he would do it again. So I stood there giving him my best evil eye.

"I'm sorry."

Whoa. I did not expect that. My features softened as he was about to continue.

"Your parents suck for abandoning you like that." I stood there for a second looking into his eyes, trying to find out if he was being sincere...and he was.

I gave him a strong nod, not knowing what else to do. I then walked past him and out of my room.

_0_

I had Damon drop me off at the Mystic Grill, so I had to sit through a 7 minute silent car ride because neither of us wanted to break it. As soon as I he pull up to the drive way I jumped out of the car muttering a 'thank you' and running off.

When I got into the grill I noticed Jeremy talking to some girl around his age at the pool table. It's good that he's letting himself get over Vicki.

Not that he had much of a choice…

I shook my head at myself before continuing to towards the bar. I didn't make it to the bar as I was stopped by Jeremy's voice.

"Hey, Maddie. Sorry Anna, but Maddie's my ride home and she's leaving so I guess that means I have to leave know. I'll catch you later." I didn't have time to react because he took hold of my wrist and dragged me out the place.

"Hey! I just got here. You owe me an ice cream and fries." I shouted at him like a child.

"They don't even sell ice cream here." Why is he pointing out useless information?

"So?" I raised an eyebrow,

"So you didn't come here to get ice cream and how is it fair that I owe you something you didn't even come for." Jeremy said all smart like.

"Great I get dragged out of a public restaurant and I don't even get ice cream. Cause that's fair." I pouted.

"Thank you helping me back there, though." He better say thank you.

"One day I'm going to need you to return the favor and I expect you to be 101% ready and compliant." I told him with a strict tone in my voice. He gave me a nod with a playful smile on his face.

"What's up with that girl though? Seems like she's into you." I asked suddenly curious about why I got dragged away from my lunch.

"She's just some girl I know. She's cool, but also really pushy and weird." He explained. Awww looks like Jeremy got a secret admirer. Well I guess it's not much of a secret.

"What's wrong with pushy and weird?" I asked. I'm totally going to be like cupid with these two. It'll keep me busy.

"Everything when we aren't even dating." Hmmm.

"Don't you think easy going and normal is boring?"

"I don't know. She's hot though."

"You're a pig." I cringed.

He laughed at me before changing the subject, "What's up with the bag?"

"Oh it's just those papers Jenna wanted and some of my books." I told him holding the bag closer to my body.

"Only some. That looks like it weighs almost half as much as you." He said extending his arm towards my bag. He wasn't wrong, but he didn't need to know that.

"Looks can be deceiving." I smirked.

_0_

As soon as I walked into the Gilbert house...wait...if I'm moving in doesn't that mean it's my home to? Anyways, Jeremy and I parted ways; him going into the kitchen and me going upstairs to my room.

As soon as I opened the door I almost had a heart attack. Jenna and Elena were sitting on the edge of my perfectly made bed looking as if they have been waiting for me.

"Guys! I know I just moved in and all, but could you give me a little warning next time!" I yelled as I held my chest.

"I'm sorry, but we need to talk to you." Jenna stood up while Elena followed her lead.

I looked at them as a million thoughts swirled through my head. What did I do? I just got here, what could I have possibly done?

"I didn't do anything." I quickly claimed.

"You're not in trouble." Jenna assured carefully.

"This is about our adoption." Elena finally spoke causing my eyes to shoot to her.

"What about it?" I asked getting more nervous by the second. I didn't know if I was ready to know about my birth parents. I don't even know if I'm ready to except the fact that I'm adopted.

"Maybe you should sit down." Jenna suggested.

"Okay…?" I dragged out as I slowly made my way onto the bed.

"I don't know how to tell you this or how to explain it, but I know you should have the right to know and with your parents gone, they aren't here to tell you this, so I guess I'm taking matters into my own hands. Now that you are living here I think you should know the truth about who your actual family is." Jenna ranted as I played with my fingers nervously.

"You scaring me." I pointed out.

"A while ago, when my sister and her husband were still alive, a 16-year old girl showed up to their house in labor and with another child who looked to only be 10 months old . My sister's husband was a doctor so he helped deliver the baby and gave her a place to stay for a few days. Then one day he went to go check up on her and found that she disappeared and left her children behind. You see, my sister and her husband have been trying to have a baby and it just wasn't happening, so they thought this was the perfect opportunity. However, they didn't have enough money at the time to care for 2 kids, so they made a deal with Mr. and Mrs. Clairwell. The deal was that they would take the older child and raise it as their own and when the child was old enough she would be told that she was adopted. The Clairwell's daughter, Evelyn, had been pleading for a younger sister and the Clairwell's wanted to make her happy, so they accepted the deal." Jenna finished and I could barely wrap my head around what she just told me.

"I'm that child then. I'm the one that they decided to give up. And if what you're saying is true, they only took me in because Evelyn wanted a sister." Everything was starting to make sense now.

I then looked over at Elena. "And if everything you saying is true that means you and I…"

"Are sisters." She finished for me. 


	21. Chapter 19- Unpleasantville Part B

**Chapter 19:**

I'm in my room getting ready for the 50's dance and I'm pushing away any thought of my family at all. I fear that if I start to think about it I will start to overthink it and then I will be too upset to even show up to this stupid dance, and I'm going to this stupid dance. I will force myself to have the best time of my life if I have to. I was finishing up my hair that I styled to be half up and half down and curled at the end. I was wearing high waisted dark blue jeans and a red and white plaid shirt the I tied in the front. I matched them with a pair of black heels.

The makeup I chose to wear to complete the look was some mascara and red lipstick. I thought I looked good before turning towards my bed to find the compass Damon gave me spinning out of control. I watched for a second before stepping outside of my room and calling out Jeremy and Elena's names. I figured Elena was just getting ready and Jeremy probably just left, but just to be safe I walked back into my room and picked up my phone to call Stefan.

After the third ring I heard the wrong Salvatore's voice through the phone:

"Stefan's phone. You ask he saves. Hero hair is extra." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm.

"Where's Stefan?" I ask immediately. I walked out of my room closing the door behind me.

"Last time I checked he was on his way to your new home." He told me without expression.

"Okay good. That stupid compass is freaking me out. It keeps on spinning and scaring the crap out of me." By now I was already down the stairs and in front of the door.

"Just your boy toy on his way to do the deed." Damon teased causing me to hang up and stuff my phone in my back pocket.

"Hey, you called me. Is everything okay?" Elena asked as she descended from the stairs.

"That compass that Damon gave me was spinning, but it's just because Stefan's on his way. Didn't mean to scare you." She looked slightly relieved, but all that fell from her face when a vampire dropped from the ceiling, landing right between the two of us.

He jumped after Elena first and he was inches from biting her neck until I made the unthoughtful decision to jump on his back, which definitely caught him off guard. He stumbled backwards and slammed my back into a wall extremely hard, causing me to release my grip on him.

I felt an aching pain in the center of my back which I was forced to ignore because of the vampire that was stalking towards me with a wide grin spread all across his face.

"We can be friends, right? And friends don't kill friends. If you can look past the whole me running you over with a car, i'm sure I can over the whole you dropping from the ceiling trying to kill us." My talking seemed to push back the part where he killed me. I looked past him to Elena who had this panic expression on her face. Well it looks like she's not going to be much help.

Wait! Isn't Stefan suppose to be on his way. I'm sure if I yell loud enough he'll hear me. Let's just hope he can get here before this dude kills me.

"STEFAN!STEFAN!STEF…" I was cut off by being slammed into the wall and before I knew it I was about to be a vampire snack. Luckily, before he was able to bite me he was ripped off of me.

I looked over and I saw Stefan was the one who saved me. Without another thought I ran into his arms ignoring to pain in my back. He happily took me into his arms.

"Are you okay? Are you okay?" He asked desperately running a hand through my hair. I looked up at him and nodded my head. I laid my head against his chest and enjoyed the feeling of security it gave me.

0_

Damon decided to join us and he was pacing around the living room while Stefan and Elena sat on the couch and I sat on the arm of the couch like a child next the Stefan. I let his hand lay on top of my thigh and enjoyed the physical contact. It was the only thing that was keeping me even remotely calm.

"How did he get in?" Damon asked.

"He was invited in." Elena answered.

"He posed as the pizza guy last night." Stefan further explained.

"Who invites the pizza guy in? He rings the doorbell. You give him money. He gives you food. Ta-da no invitation needed." I said like it was the simplest thing in the world. Which it is!

"You're definitely not wrong, but he gets points for that. Did he say what he wanted?" Damon asked me.

"No his was probably to busy with, I don't know, killing us!" Does nobody understand how mad I am. All I was trying to do was get ready for a normal school dance, but noooo, little miss vampire buddy thought it was a good time to make an appearance. Why isn't Elena as mad as me?

"And you have no idea who it is." Stefan asked Damon.

"No," Stefan looked at him unconvinced. "Don't look at me like that. I told you we had company."

"Do you think there is more than one?" Elena asked concerningly.

"We don't know." Damon asked.

"Damon, he was invited in." Stefan points out.

Damon nods understandingly, "That's why you," He pointed at me, "should go back to your house where the only two vampires that can come in are Stefan and I." He said it like he was ordering me to do exactly what he says.

"No." I say sternly.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Damon asked like he was unknown of the word. "This creep is trying to kill you and he has an open invitation into this house, which means it's not safe anymore."

"Maybe he's right. It'll keep you safe." Stefan butts in.

"No. I'm not going back there. And what about Elena, Jeremy, and Jenna. They still live here and that means open targets for this pizza guy." I said sternly giving both brothers a look that told them I wasn't backing down from this one.

"Fine." Damon huffed thinking for a second. "Then we get him tonight."

0_

After fighting Stefan to let me come we finally arrived to the dance. As soon as we got there Elena went to Caroline and Bonnie.

"You're not going to go mingle with your friends." Damon asked me as I stood silently.

"No, why would I do that when I can drag my boyfriend out to the dance floor." I said sarcastically as I grabbed Stefan's hand and dragged him onto the dance the floor.

"So you were alive during the 50's, why don't you show me some moves." I asked him. He smiled brightly before twirling me and pulling me back.

We swayed to the music as I had my

hands around his neck and he had his on my hips. "Besides the whole vampire wanting to kill you part, this is nice. Dancing here with my girlfriend." He told me causing me to smile.

"As soon as all this is over we should do something. I have some more things to tell you about my family and with all this vampire stuff going on, I'm afraid we won't have time to just relax and enjoy each other." I expressed myself.

"I know the feeling. How about this; I promise you a whole night with just you, me, and chinese food. We can talk about anything you want. I just want to get rid of this guy and keep you and Elena out of danger." I nodded agreeingly. Before we could further the discussion Damon's voice interrupted.

"Mind if I steal your date?" Stefan looked at me before back at Damon sending him a glare.

"It's up to her." Stefan tells him. Don't you just love all the unwanted attention being sent my way. Note the sarcasm.

I turn my head to look for Elena to see if she can help me out of this, but I saw her dancing with some guy named Daniel from her class. She looked so happy and I didn't want to be the one to end it. So I turned back towards the brothers who were still looking at me and groaned.

"Yeah whatever."

Stefan looked at me with an expression I couldn't figure out before saying, "Stay with him until I come back. I'll go look for this guy." He didn't give me time to respond as his pulled me into a soft and gentle kiss. It was without a doubt meant to be right in front of Damon, which was maybe a good thing. He could finally see that I didn't just get together with Stefan because I was overwhelmed. I think I'm just confused with everything that's happening and it's clouding up my judgement.

Stefan finally pulled away and whisper 'stay safe' in my ear before walking off. I turned back towards an emotionless Damon, but a smirk soon spread across his face

He held his hand out for me to take and a slow song automatically turned on. This should be fun. Again, note the sarcasm.

I took his hand and we soon began to move in rhythm to the music. I was half expecting him to taunt me about Stefan like he's made a habit of doing lately. But what he said was completely different than what I thought he would.

"You look beautiful."

"Thank you." I blushed lightly.

"This fifties look really works for you. It's hot." He flirted.

"You can't do that." I warned him.

"Do what?" He said doing that thing with his eyes. This is going to be long night.

"That. Listen I'm with Stefan now, which means no more flirty comments or that weird flirty thing you do with your eyes." I put my foot down.

"You mean this." He did that thing with his eyes again.

"Yes! Listen you might not believe that I actually want to be with Stefan, but I do. And I don't need you confusing my feelings. You're my friend. That's it." I told him with no specific emotion in my voice.

He looked me in the eye for a couple seconds before leaning forward to my ear until he was an inch away from my skin.

"If I was just a friend, then how would I be able to confuse your feelings so easily."He whispered causing me to shiver. "But I'll play your little game of not facing your real feelings, just know that it won't last as long as you think." He leaned away from me and I looked at him in the eyes, lost for words. I looked past him to avoid anymore eye contact, but immediately regretted it.

In the far corner of the gym was the guy in the black hoodie. "He's here." I whispered so only Damon could hear. "Behind you." I said again causing him to turn around and look at the guy for himself, however; as soon as Damon saw a glimpse of him he used his vampire speed to run of somewhere else.

"Go find Stefan." Damon told me sternly. I nodded my head. You don't have to tell me twice.

"Be careful." He said before running off.

I walked away from everyone who was dancing and I scanned the room for any sign of Stefan, then all of sudden my phone began to ring. Hoping it was Stefan or Damon I answered it without looking at the number.

"Hello Madeline." I recognized the voice to be the black hoodie guy.

"What do you want?" I asked. As I looked around for him.

"I want you to grab Elena and walk into the school quietly and without making a scene." I scoffed at that.

"And why would I do that." Probably not the best time to get an attitude.

"Because if you don't I will snap Jeremy's neck." I quickly looked over to the table that had punch on it where I knew Jeremy would be. And of course I saw the black hoodie guy standing behind him.

"There probably won't even be a witness." He said through the phone.

I hung up before he could say anything else. I ran up to the dance floor and grabbed Elena away from the guy she was dancing with.

"Hey! What was that for?" She whined, as she stopped walking. I turned to face her and said, "He's here and said if me and you don't go into the school he'll kill Jeremy." I said frantically.

I watched as her eyes went wide and she complied and walked into the building with me. We ran through the exit and down the corridor. We looked behind us to see if he was following us, but we didn't see him yet. We turn down another corridor and towards a set of doors. We get to the set of door just to realize they are chained shut. I look behind us again to see the black hoodie guy stalking towards us. I grab Elena's hand and drag her down yet another corridor that leads to the cafeteria.

We run through the cafeteria to get through another set of door, but of course, with our luck, they were chained shut too. I look over at Elena and I can see she's in full blown panic mode.

"What do we do?!" She asks frantically.

The sound of the cafeteria door flinging open makes us look over at this guy coming towards us.

"Pray to god that telepathy is real and try to talk to Damon and Stefan through your thoughts and tell them to get their vampire asses over here." I suggest.

Elena had a slightly better idea which was to make a run for it, which didn't work very well since he was in front of her in a second. He grabbed her by her hair and yanked her backwards.

I, without thinking, through my phone at this vampire dudes head. And let's just say I have incredible aim. I heard him let out a low, but very effective, growl.

He threw Elena in the ground, sending her flying into a wall. Now his eyes were on me. I looked around me to see if there was anything that could possibly help me defend myself but the only thing I saw that was near me was a flyer on the wall. Sadly, I don't think a paper cut will hold off this dude for long.

I backed away from him until my back hit a wall and I realized there was nowhere else to go as this guy was walking towards me with a murderous expression on his face.

"I can tell you have some anger issues and I think I can help. I'll start of with saying I didn't mean for my phone to hit you." I apologized as I saw that was my last hope.

"So where did you mean to throw it?" He asked sarcastically, but with some kind of amusement in his voice.

"You see, this is just a huge misunderstanding. My phone just seemed to slip, but if you hadn't went after my friend it might not have slipped, so I think we all have to do some re-evaluating." By now he was directly in front of me. And I saw that his face was starting to vamp out so I did what I had to do to get out of this situation. I kneed him where the sun doesn't shine.

He let out a loud groan and hunched over grabbing his member in pain. I took this as an out so I immediately ran towards where Elena was getting up from the ground, but I didn't get very far as I felt the back of my hair being pulled back and before I knew it my head was colliding with a wall, which by the way, hurts a lot more than it looks like on tv. Then he threw me across one of the tables and I landed on the floor really hard. I tried to open my eyes but a bunch of black dots clouded my vision.

I don't know how long I was on the floor for but after what felt like 5 minutes I heard Stefan's voice.

"Madeline?" I felt him pick me up and sit my at one of the tables. I could finally see clearly and I could see the worry on his face.

"Hey, are you okay?" He said in a low voice. I look around the room and I see Damon tearing the black hoodie guy off of Elena and throw him to the ground. He picked up what looked like a broken mop.

"Hey dickhead. No one wants to kill you. We just want to talk." Damon says trying to reason. However, a smile just appears on his face and he tries to go after Elena again.

"No!" I shout, scared for my kind of sisters life. Thankfully, Stefan appeared in front of her and stakes him in the stomach. He grunts and falls to his knees.

"Now you feel like talking?" Stefan asked challengingly.

"Screw you." He replies. I cringe as Stefan pushes the stake deeper into him.

"Wrong answer. Why are you doing this?" Stefan tried again.

"Because it's fun." He says which kind of scares me. I mean who just tortures people for some kind of sick pleasure.

Stefan digs the stake a little deeper before asking another question.

"What do you want with Elena?"

"She looks like Katherine." He tells Stefan with what could be detected as a chuckle.

"What about Madeline? She doesn't look like Katherine." Stefan asked glancing over at me.

"She's amusing and fun to play with. And beautiful."

That made me shift uncomfortably. How you can he torture me just because I'm 'amusing' and 'fun to play with'?

"That can't be the only reason." Damon said joining the conversation. The smirk on the black hoodie guys face showed that there was more to why he was torturing me.

"What do you want with her?" Damon pushed, but the guy showed no sign of him opening up. I guess that was the wrong answer since Stefan pushed the stake even deeper. I'm surprised it hasn't just went all the way through his body.

"How do you know Katherine?" Damon asked realizing that he wasn't going to reveal his real reason.

"Oh. You thought you were the only ones. You don't even remember me." He laughed.

"Tell me how to get in the tomb. Hmm?" Damon pushes.

"No." He refuses, so Stefan takes the stake out of him and pushes it back into his stomach.

"The grimoire!" He exclaims.

"Where is it?" When he doesn't answer Stefan dives it even deeper.

"Check the journal. The journal. Johnathan's journal. Johnathan Gilbert's." He reveals in pain. Damon ends up questioning who he is working with him and when he refuses to tell them Stefan pulled out the stake and staked his heart, cause me to flinch along with Elena.

"You do realize you just killed the only guy that could give us answers!" I yell as I build up the strength to stand up.

"Well it was that or let him wander back into your house to kill you and everyone else who lives in that house." Damon defends Stefan.

"How are we gonna find the others now?" Elena asks.

"Do you two not realize that if we didn't kill him he wouldn't stop taunting you?"

"But…" I was going to argue back when Stefan interrupted.

"It was either him or you and I'm not willing to take that chance." I huffed knowing that he was right and I took a look around myself. I saw Elena who was pretty much on the verge of crying. A desiccated body laying on the floor. My boyfriend who just staked a vampire, and then his vampire brother who I don't know, is a pain in the ass. Everyone was looking at me waiting for me to respond, but I had nothing to say. I just know that everything that is in front of me isn't normal. Nothing about it is normal.

Without a word I walk past everyone and out the cafeteria. I kept on walking until I was back to the dance.

"Hey Madeline. Where have you been? I barely saw you all night." Caroline asked stopping me.

"I was just mingling, but I'm heading home now."

"Are you okay? You look kind of pale." She asked.

"Yeah, I just had a long night. I'll see you tomorrow though. Good as new." I crack a smile that I had to force.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." She says smiling, clearly believing me.

As I walk into the parking lot I realize I came to the dance in Stefan's car. So I decide to just walk home since I had no idea where he was.

About 5 minutes into the walk it starts to rain. At first it was just sprinkling but now it's full blown pouring. Life officially sucks. I'm soaked. I'm walking in heels. My head hurts. Ughhhh.

As I was walking I hear a car honk at me from behind. I was about to flip off whoever it was but when I saw whose car it was I was thankful.

It was Stefan. He stopped next to me and I ran into the passenger's seat. When I closed the door I looked over at a chucking Stefan, probably at my now smudged makeup.

"Stop laughing at me. I didn't know it was going to rain." I pouted and crossed my arms.

" Why didn't you just call me?" He said, clearly amused.

" Because I may or may not have thrown my phone at that vampire dudes head prior to when you and Damon showed up." I said a little embarrassed.

"Oh course you did." He laughed at me.

"Ughh." I groaned and laying my head against the seat. "I need alcohol."

"Great thing your boyfriend just happens to have an alcoholic vampire brother who happens to have a humongous stash." Stefan says.

"To the Salvatore House we go." I say with excitement. "But does Damon have to be there?" I asked.

"He shouldn't be home for like an hour. And that's enough time to get you drunk."

"I now declare you as my favorite person in the world." I say in a cheery voice.

"And all I had to do was get you drunk."

"I'm easy like that. Just not in a sluty way." I laugh at myself and he laughs with me.

We pull up to Stefan's house and we go straight for Damon's stash.

30 minutes later me and Stefan are sittin on the floor of the basement hallway outside of the room Damon's alcohol is in.

"So what are some things about you that I don't know?" Stefan asked me and I think it was the first time I saw him drunk. But I kind of liked it, maybe because I am too.

"I don't know." I said taking a sip straight from the bottle.

"Come on, there has to be something." He guessed. " Put your thinking cap on." He encouraged.

I pretended to put my thinking cap on and I made a face that made it look like I was deep in thought.

"Um...I tried pot when I was 15." Stefan almost choked on his bourbon.

"Are you serious?" He asked surprised.

"Yeah, everyone in my grade was doing it and my parents told me that if I ever tried it then I would be grounded but then 1 week later they grounded me for getting an F in English. And since I was already grounded I thought 'what's the harm in trying since I'm already in trouble?'" I laughed.

" Wow if knew I was dating a druggy before…" he said sarcastically. I slapped his arm jokingly.

"I was not a druggy. It was a one time thing." I defended. " Come on. You've never done anything exciting. Or broken the rules. I refuse to believe that." I said waiting for him to share something.

"When I was 9 I use to collect frogs and one day I was really mad that Damon popped my football so I let them go in his room while he was sleeping." I started to die of laughter at this, but the sound of Damon's voice shut me up.

"What are you guys doing?" He said sounding mad.

"Are you drinking from my stash?!" He yelled and used his vamp speed to try and speed towards us but Stefan thought quick and grabbed me and sped us into the room where we got the alcohol and locked the door so Damon couldn't get in.

"Stop acting like children." Damon said banging on the door.

"We are doing this to help you." Stefan said as we erupted in laughter.

"It's the first step to recovery." I added.

"Recovery to what?" He asked clearly annoyed. But I was too drunk to care.

"You have an alcohol problem. And the solution to your problem is; me and Stefan will drink all your alcohol so you can stay sober." I explain through the door.

"Are you two drunk?" He accused.

"Maybe." Stefan admitted.


	22. IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE

**A/N: I'm sorry to announce that I am ending this book. I realized I had no idea where I was going with it, but on the bright side I am rewriting this story, but I'm going to be turning it into a Stefan/OC story. However, for all of you Damon fans, I am also in the process of rewriting a Damon/OC story. It was originally posted on my other account. " LivCarina " I realized I mixing up my two characters and it was resulting in two messy and badly written stories. I want to apologize to all the readers and fans of this story, but I hope you guys will still read the better written story. I will make sure to let you guys know when I post them.**

 **Again I am very sorry.**


	23. PLEASE READ THIS!

E **verybody, I just wanted to let you know I just posted a new story called Sweet Dreams and if you liked this story you'll love that one. It is a Damon/OC/Stefan story and I can honestly say I think you guys will love it. I will be posted as regularly as possible on that story so I very much recommend you guys check it out and let me know how you like it.**


	24. LAST AUTHORS NOTE I PROMISE

Hey, sorry this isn't an update, but please keep on reading. I'm starting a new story that is Damon/OC. It's called Poison Rose and you guys should check it out. I've already finished writing the first season to it and I will be posting a new chapter every week. Don't worry though, I'm still working on this story. I also wanted to ask you guys to comment down shipping's you would like to see me write a separate story on. I'm open to all ideas and I will P.M you to let you know if I will be writing a story on the shipping you asked for.

I also write stories for The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf, The 100, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Originals. So feel free to comment any shipping's you'd want to see in any of those shows. I write OC stories only, though because I just do better writing those. But please comment and let me know./strong/p


	25. THE REWRITE IS FINALLY OUT!

**Hey, guy! So I finally posted the rewrite to this story and I'm so excited. I know it took forever, but I needed time to develop and construct Madeline as a character to make sure her personality is consistent along with everything that is happening around her. You can find the story on my profile. It's called Troubled (REWRITE) I really hope you guys check it out.**


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